Brave-Style Merida Wig & Accessory How-To

Earlier this week I showed how I created my Princess Merida Costume inspired by Disney's Brave (get the how-to HERE).  Today I'm sharing how I made the extra accents that are central to Merida's signature style: her fiery red hair and her quiver belt.  The total cost for her entire costume was under $25, so it's a brave AND thrifty princess look!

Ready to see how to make a cheap and easy yarn wig to make some wild and free Merida hair?

You'll Need:
- One skein of orange acrylic yarn ($2.99 at craft store)
- One orange crochet hat ($1.29 bought online)

Start by wrapping yarn around a pillow 10 times (mine was 16" x 16").  Cut yarn from skien and cut a small tie piece.

Pull yarn bundle off pillow and tie at one end, cut open at the other and repeat about 10 times to make enough bundles.

Start attaching yarn bundle to crochet hat along the center of the hat.  Pull the tie ends at the center of the bundle through either side of a stitch in the hat:

Knot the tie on the underside of hat:

Repeat with bundles about 1 inch apart in a mohawk style from front to back and then add a few bundles on the sides.  Try wig on and fill in any bare sections with additional bundles.  Trim sections near face in a few framing layers.

I wanted to add a bit of curl and tried a few different methods I saw online that were supposed to work on acrylic yarn and the results were:

Setting sections in foam rollers for a week did....nothing.  Getting yarn wet on wooden dowels and drying in oven (like corker bows) did....nothing.  Spray starch on the dowels...did even less - FAIL #3. Maybe using a better yarn would work, but my goal was make a wig that was cheap, so I gave up on trying to curl it.  It still captures Merida's overall "wild" haired look, so I'm happy with it as it is.

Of course any authentic Merida needs her most important accessories: bow, arrow and quiver belt:

We found a great bow & arrow set for $6 at Wal-Mart and of course my little lady wanted to be able to carry hers like "Mer" as she calls her), so I created a quick and simple quiver belt. Here's how to make 'em -

You'll Need:

- 1/4 to 1/2yd of brown fleece, felt, pleather or corduroy (I used some leftover scraps)

- Length of braided pleather one 2 inches wider than waist (find in trim section of fabric store for about $2)

- Single snap

Cut a rectangular piece for the quiver body that's about an inch shorter than the arrows to go in it.  Mine was 10 inches wide by 12 inches long. 

 Hem top edge of rectangle and then fold in half width-wise and stitch down the side:

Cut a circle for the bottom that has a circumference the same as the rectangle's width.Stitch circle to bottom of quiver and clip around edges.  Turn right side out.

Cut a small rectangle (6.5 inches wide by 6 inches long) for the belt loop of the quiver, fold width-wise and stitch down the side, refold with the seam in the center, then stitch one end closed.  Turn right side out and then fold raw edges of open end inward and stitch closed.

 Fold strip in half and stitch to the back side of the top the quiver:

To make the belt I used a length of braided pleather, folded & stitched the raw edges under and attached a snap on either end.  I ran the loop through the belt and the quiver was all set for use:

Now a little Scottish-style lass is ready to "change her fate" and be Brave inside AND out!

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