How to make a “BB8” STAR WARS Costume!
Well, this month didn’t quite go as planned for this household…….nor the plans I had in my head, but we’re going with it anyway! I had every intention of getting these costumes done a little sooner and shared with you guys way before now, and I’m so sorry about that, but well……we’ve had a weird month. Full of sickies! But maybe today’s costume can be bookmarked for next year. Or maybe a Christmas gift! Because what child doesn’t love to dress up?! I hope this will be useful
Today’s costume is for little Oliver…..who turned 2 in July, but still has no idea what Halloween is about. Nor does he have an opinion about what we dress him in. All he really cares about is how much candy he can sneak and go eat in the other room before someone notices! Haha…..this kid sure loves his sugar! (…wonder where he gets it from!)
Even though our original Halloween costume ideas were something completely different, it morphed into something my 2 boys could pair up and do together ——STAR WARS!!! And the first costume to share, is Oliver in his hilarious little BB8 COSTUME!
I wasn’t sure how Oliver would handle having this sphere type thing hanging on him (because this little dude is one opinionated child….ha!), but surprisingly enough, he thinks this thing is kind of hilarious! And I think secretly likes that we all laugh and smile and give him continuous attention while wearing it! He sure knows how to survive as the 4th child. Haha! ;)
This costume is perfectly round and sturdy and will hold it s shape always. I can’t even wait to show you what it’s made out of down below.
Okay, I’ll tell you now…..it’s a HUGE oversized trick-or-treat pumpkin bucket that I bought at Target for $6.00! And it worked perfectly!!!!
It’s covered entirely by fleece and felt, so it’s soft and comfortable……and supported at the shoulders by some simple ribbon straps.
The hat is made from fleece as well and I pretty much cut up old plastic garbage (that I painted) to create the “camera lenses” that BB8 uses to “see” and navigate around. Worked perfectly!
My original plan was to create an all fleece shape that was going to “kind of” have some shape to it, but it would have never looked perfectly round. But while walking through Target for something completely different, and seeing that huge pumpkin, that’s when inspiration struck. And ha……I really love the nice round look to that cute little BB8 character, that all the Star Wars fans seem to adore!
Oh, and in case you thought BB8 was alone in the forest this day……he wasn’t. He had a friend. (Who I’ll be sharing with you tomorrow or Wednesday! Haha……he cracks me up too!)
Oh Oliver……you keep this whole family laughing! I’m so glad you’re a good sport and are willing to wear something you are completely clueless about…..just because it makes everyone else laugh!
Cutest little BB8 I ever did see!!!
Want to see how to make your own BB8 Costume??
SUPPLIES:
***Check out my Sewing Terms 101 post, for additional help.
I should have placed this pumpkin next to a standard size trick-or-treat pumpkin…..but this thing is WAY bigger than it looks in this photo! It is a HUGE oversized trick-or treat pumpkin. I found it at Target….with all of their Halloween stuff! They had tons of them!
Then, I cut off the bottom, using a dremel tool. I cut out a smaller circle at first but realized this hole needs to be bigger to allow more room for walking and for more motion if they need to bend over, etc. So I cut out an extra ring, making the hole bigger.
Then, I cut two slits on each side of the top lip with the dremel, wide enough for the shoulder straps to slip through.
Then I slipped some 1 inch white ribbon through the slits, overlapped by a few inches, then glue the ribbon ends in place.
I slid the pumpkin over Oliver’s head, to measure and visualize how long to make each strap, before securing and gluing the other ends of the ribbon.
The, I cut out double layers of fleece to bulk out the indention where the pumkin’s face was. I didn’t want it to even show the shape of that face when I was done, so doing this really helped make it disappear!
Then I started wrapping the pumpkin with some fleece. I’m sure there are many methods for making this work but this is what I did.
If you lay fleece down in front of you, it only has a 2 way stretch, not a 4 way…..so right to left or up and down (depending on which direction you placed it), but not both. You want to wrap the non- stretch direction around the belly of the pumpkin so that it doesn’t stretch while you’re wrapping it around and gluing it. (Glue just around the middle of the pumpkin as you’re gluing, leaving most of the ends free from glue.) Cut the fleece in a straight line right where it meets up again, making sure it butts up together nicely.
Now, when you start pulling the fleece in the other direction to cover each end of the pumpkin, it will stretch and form to the contour of the pumpkin. Make sense? Now, start gluing the fleece in place around the end of the pumpkin WITHOUT the shoulder straps first.
When you start pulling the fleece and gluing it around the other end of the pumpkin, you’ll need to watch for each of the straps.
Pull your fleece down and around the edge of the pumpkin and while still keeping it pulled with one hand, use your other hand to cut a slit in the fleece to allow for the strap to pass through.
Then cut another little line perpendicular to the first long line, to allow for the width of the ribbon to fit through.
Then pull the fleece around the ribbon and glue it all in place.
Continue with the other ribbon ends and keep the fleece pulled snug as you glue it all in place around the pumpkin. Trim off your excess fleece.
****Now, I repeated this fleece step again, for a total of 2 layers of fleece around my pumpkin. The reason for that, is that I could still see some orange through one layer of fleece and even some of the outline of the pumpkin face that I covered with fleece. 2 layers was perfect!
Now, it’s time for decorating. This part can be done however you wish…..but I jut googled a picture of BB8 and tried to duplicate some of the circles along the sides of his sphere. But for the base of each shape, I cut out orange felt circles and then some inner white shapes like shown below.
But it’s difficult to just attach the orange circles to the covered pumpkin because it’s rounded. So I cut a slit halfway through the circles…..
…..then overlapped it just a bit to help it contour to the round sphere base.
Then I hot glued the white center piece in place. And did the same 3 more times around the middle of BB8.
Then I cut a curved orange strip (actually several sections that I pieces together) and glued it around the top edge of BB8, about 1/2 inch down from the straps.
Then I just started cutting out little shapes in grey felt and finishing them off with details in black red and yellow. I made all 4 different, and like I mentioned before, just found ideas from googling BB8.
Then I cut thin strips of grey felt and small grey circles and made connector lines and details around the rest of surface.
Now, it’s time for the HAT!
I used the Fleece Baby Hat pattern from the Baby Cow Tuturial…..but since that was sized to 6 months……I just added a little extra width along the tops and sides and about 1 1/2 inches along the bottom. However, after making it, I didn’t need that much extra along the sides but I needed the extra along the bottom.
Once the hat was complete, I added some grey fleece shapes along the top with hot glue.
Then, I hot glued two circle shapes to the front of the hat, just like BB8. I used a hollow ball that I cut in half and then the top of an applesauce pouch…..and spray painted them black.
Then I added some orange pieces around the bottom edge of the hat and glued them in place as well!
That’s it! The hat is complete!
Now, add a white long-sleeved shirt, some white leggings (or thick white girl tights like I used) and put the whole look together! :)
Enjoy!
-Ashley
Hi, I’m Ashley—the DIY-enthusiast behind this crazy blog!
