The present invention relates to a method to produce a wig which can be glued onto a body part of a toy figure, in particular onto a doll's head, and to a body part of a toy figure, in particular a doll's head, with a glued-on wig. It is known to provide a doll's head with hair by sewing tufts of hair into the head part of the doll. For this purpose, the material of the doll's head must be comparatively soft in order to be able to be pierced by the sewing needle. These soft materials have the disad- vantage that the holes pierced by the sewing needle easily tear out, such that the sewn-in tufts of hair are badly anchored. Moreover, in such a material, the surface can only be painted or printed in a difficult and less durable manner. The same disadvantages also exist in other toy figures to be provided with hair, for example in a toy horse which is to be provided with a mane or a tail.

The said disadvantages of a toy figure, in particular a doll's head, consisting of a soft plastic material and to be fitted with hair can be avoided by a wig of hair being glued onto a body of the toy figure, consisting of any other desired material, or onto such a doll's head.

Such a wig of hair and its manufacture are described in FR-A-1,146, 00. In one embodiment, a fabric of weft and warp threads is formed. The warp threads run only in the centre of the fabric and only a few warp threads at the two edges. The central part of such a piece of fabric is glued onto a doll's head along its longitudinal centre line, and the region of the warp threads is subsequently trimmed at the edges. Since the weft threads are all oriented in the same direction, this wig does not, however, have a very natural appearance.

It is therefore the object of the present inven¬ tion to provide a method of the type mentioned at the beginning, which is simple and cost-effective, and which provides a sturdy wig of natural appearance for a doll (or a different toy figure) of any desired size, that is to say in particular of small size.

According to the invention, this object is achieved in that threads of hair are embroidered in loops on a flat, flexible base in an area bounded by a desired wig contour, and in that, afterwards, the embroidered area is removed from the base along the wig contour.

By carrying out an embroidery operation on a flat, flexible base, a hair style of any desired appear¬ ance and any size and shape can be produced by machine in a simple manner. This wig can subsequently be bonded without difficulty onto the body part of a toy figure, in particular onto the doll's head, consisting of a user- friendly and environmentally compatible material.

Exemplary embodiments of the method according to the invention are described below with reference to the drawings in the application on a doll's head. It is understood that the same method steps can also be applied to producing hair for other toy figures, in which case the contour of the wig mentioned in the following nat- urally has to be adapted to the respective body part of the toy figure. In the drawings,

Figure 1 shows a view of a contour, marked on a base by embroidery, of a wig to be glued onto a doll's head; Figure 2 shows a diagrammatic view of threads or tufts of hair embroidered in loops of different lengths within the marked contour of Figure 1;

Figure 3 shows a diagram of cut-out or punch-out steps carried out in the base to separate the area embroidered within the contour according to Figure 2 from the base;

Figure 4 shows a view of a basic area, defined by embroidery on a base, of a wig to be glued onto a doll's head; and

Figure 5 shows a diagrammatic view of a doll's head with a depression to receive the area, shown in Figure 3, which has been embroidered and removed from the base. In a first embodiment of the method according to the invention, the contour 1 of the wig to be produced and to be glued onto a doll's head is stipulated accord¬ ing to Figure 1. The contour 1 naturally depends on the shape and the size of the doll's head to be provided with the wig. In the example illustrated, it has a front part 2, a neck part 3 and four flaps 4 which bound two cutouts 5 and come to rest against one another when the wig has been placed on the doll's head.

The stipulated contour 1 is marked on a flat base 6, illustrated as an extract, by being embroidered flatly on the base 6. The base 6 is to be flexible and can be made of textile, that is to say a web of fabric. However, it is also possible to use a base of fibrous structure, for example based on paper, or a base made of a plastic material. The embroidery of the contour 1 expediently takes place on an embroidery machine which is known per se.

A further possibility of embroidering the contour 1 consists in that the front part 2 and the neck part 3 are embroidered with additional contours 2' and 3' in the manner of a buttonhole, which is illustrated by dashed lines in Figure 1. Afterwards, the embroidered parts 2, 2' and 3, 3' of the base 6 are at least partially laid free as in the case of a buttonhole. This can advantage- ously take place by means of the embroidery machine itself since well-equipped embroidery machines have drilling devices which allow the said parts 2, 2' and 3, 3' to be drilled free either completely or partially, that is to say in the manner of a grid. It is also possible to embroider the two cutouts 5 additionally or solely in the manner of a buttonhole (not illustrated) and subsequently to lay or drill them free. This embodi¬ ment of the contour 1 has the advantage that the later cutting-out of the embroidered wig from the base 6 is

facilitated. The purpose of only partially drilling free the parts 2, 2' and 3, 3' or the cutouts 5 is that the base 6 cannot become wider for the embroidery of the threads of wig hair or tufts of hair described below. In a second method step, according to Figure 2 threads or tufts of hair 7 and 8 are embroidered in loops in the area of the base 6 bounded by the contour 1 of Figure 1. In this case, the threads or tufts are firstly sewn onto the base 6 within the contour 1, are then pulled radially outwards and are sewn onto the base 6 outside the contour 1, after which they are pulled back into the area within the contour 1 and there they are again sewn onto the base 6. In this way, all the threads or tufts of hair 7 and 8 are embroidered successively onto the base 6.

The loops of threads or tufts of hair 7, 8 can all be of equal length or, as illustrated in Figure 2, can have different lengths. Since, as will be mentioned below, the loops of threads or tufts of hair are cut to length after the wig has been glued onto the doll's head, their length must be greater than the desired hair length. If the hair is intended to be a kind of "mop of fuzzy hair", the threads or tufts of hair, which will possibly not be cut, will be embroidered in an appropri- ate length.

The embroidery of the threads or tufts of hair 7, 8 also expediently takes place using an embroidery machine. The material used for the threads of hair is preferably polya ide or another polymer which can be dyed as desired. In this case, the threads or tufts can be smooth or textured.

In a third method step, with reference to Fig¬ ure 3, the area, bounded by the contour 1 and embroidered with the threads or tufts of hair 7, 8, is removed from the base 6 surrounding the contour 1. For this purpose, lateral strips 9, for example, are firstly cut or punched out of the base 6, which strips extend up to the cutouts 5 of the contour 1. Afterwards, the base 6 is folded down along the strip-shaped cutouts obtained. This allows the

embroidered area to be cut or punched out of the base 6 completely along the contour 1, for which purpose the procedure may, for example, be as follows: the part of the base 6 located outside the actual embroidery area is separated by cutting or punching out along semicircular lines 10. Afterwards, the base 6 can be cut or punched along the contour 1 between the remaining base 6 and the embroidered threads or tufts of hair 7, 8, which has the advantage that the loop tips remain anchored on the semicircular surface and thus cannot become entangled. Not until the end are the loop tips separated from the remaining base 6. The said cutting or punching out advantageously takes place by machine directly before the wig is placed on the doll's head. The cutting or punching out of the embroidered wig from the base 6 is simpler if the front part 2 and the neck part 3, as explained above and illustrated in Figure 1, and/or, if appropriate, the cutouts 5 are embroidered in the manner of a buttonhole and are drilled free. It is then essentially only necessary to cut or punch the lateral strips 9.

In accordance with a variant of the method, the abovementioned cutting or punching out of the embroidered area of the base 6 along the contour 1 can be avoided. For this purpose, in accordance with Figure 4, the entire area 11 of the base 6, to be embroidered with threads or tufts of hair and having the contour 1, is embroidered flatly, after which, in accordance with Figure 2, the threads or tufts of hair 7, 8 are embroidered in loops. The base 6 can then be removed in a further method step by chemical and/or thermal methods from the area 11 provided with the threads or tufts of hair.

Since an embroidery machine normally has a large number of needles, similarly a large number of embroidery operations can be carried out at the same time, which keeps the production costs very low.

The wig produced in accordance with the above¬ mentioned examples of the method is subsequently glued onto the intended doll's head. The latter preferably

consists of a plastic material, for example polystyrene. Furthermore, the doll's head is advantageously provided, during its manufacture, with a depression 12 which can be seen in Figure 5. As a result, on the one hand the positioning of the wig when it is being glued on is facilitated and, on the other hand, a smooth transition from the uncovered surface of the doll's head to the embroidered base of the wig is achieved. The threads or tufts of hair of the glued-on wig can then be cut to length and combed as required.

In addition to the simple production operations which can easily be adapted to the respective require¬ ments in relation to the shape and appearance of the wig, the method according to the invention has the advantage of being able to achieve a thick covering of hair without bald places.