How to make a “CHEWBACCA” Star Wars Costume!
I really shouldn’t mention a set day that I’ll have something posted….because whoops, here I am, sharing this 2 days later than I said I would. But it’s done now…yay!! Truth be told, we’ve kind of been in a sugar coma since Halloween and are still trying to get things back to normal. I swear, sugar is such an evil thing….but why do I love it so?!! ;)
And yeah, I know I posted the BB8 Costume after Halloween….and now Chewbacca, but I really hope they’ll be useful to someone someday, and somewhere. Or maybe you can whip this up as a Christmas gift…..because this one is really a fun one, and probably the quickest costume I made this year! :)
Anyway, Connor is 8 now, and is such an easy-going kid! He was willing to be all sorts of different costumes, but the ones he got the most excited about, involved a weapon. What it is with Connor and all his little boy buddies loving weapons. My girls could care less…..but oh gee, it’s like it’s pumping through his little boy veins! So, once we decided to take the boys on the Star Wars route, Connor got all excited about having a CHEWBACCA Star Wars Costume!!
Haha…..I still laugh looking at this kid! I mean, it’s Chewy!!! And I was so excited when I found that fur material, because it really MADE the costume! :)
That head piece though….haha, even a week later it still makes me happy! Oh, and yes, a little hair gel was used to get that signature slicked back look that Chewy has!
The head piece is completely separate (so it can be removed if it’s too hot or is bothersome, etc) but it was super EASY to put together. No sewing was involved at all. In fact, I formed it around something…..that I’ll show you below! It worked PERFECTLY!
And the feet, yeah, they’re not attached to the main body of the costume either. But I didn’t want shoes poking out the bottom, so I found a different solution that took maybe 5 minutes to make! Yep, I hot glued some of the fur to some plain canvas slide-on shoes. Ha!
This kid……he made a great growl-y little Chewbacca!
But the real magic……is when these 2 little friends came together to play! That little BB8 loves his buddy Chewy (and kept wanting to join him while I was trying to take pictures)!
Finally…..I let them join up in some pictures together, and these cute boys made my momma heart all sorts of happy! 2 year-old Oliver is enamored with Connor (who’s 8). He loves playing “rough” with Connor, so this with a perfect match!
A perfect little Star Wars pair…..all ready for Halloween! (And let me tell you, they were such a hoot together at the Halloween party we went to, and then again while trick-or-treating! I can’t tell you the number of people who stopped us and just kind of laughed a happy laugh! It was the sweetest thing!)
Okay, ready to see how to make a Chewbacca costume??
SUPPLIES:
***Check out my Sewing Terms 101 post, for additional help.
For the main portion of the costume, I created a one-piece body suit, the same way I put the Red Riding Hood WOLF tutorial together. But instead of adding a zipper along the front, I added velcro. This fur is so long, I was worried it would all get caught in a zipper. It still gets a little mangled in the Velcro, but it still secures closed.
For the head piece, I cut off the brim of this very inexpensive foam hat to make it just a flat sphere that fits over the head. I used this to give the head a nice shape and also to keep it on the head, without shifting at all.
Then, I grabbed one of these foam masks, also very inexpensive, to create a sort of half-mask!
I hot glued the very top edge of the mask to the inner edge of the hat.
Then, I cut a long rectangle of fur that fit all the way around the hat, and was long enough to hit my son’s shoulders. I used hot glue to attach the fur to the hat.
Then, I placed another rectangle of fur across the mask section….and then cut out the same shape eye holes. I hot glued everything in place, blending the fur pieces together.
Then I added more fur to cover the rest of the hat, blending each of the sections together, and trying to keep the direction of the fur going the same way. The great thing about this fur is that it’s so long and blends together really wel, so don’t worry about seeing the different sections.
Then, my secret……..use HAIR GEL to smooth back the fur up and away from the face! I even used a little hair spray to keep it in place. Ha! Worked great!!! (And yes, I set it on a large container of pretzels while I “styled” it!)
As for the shoes, I covered them the same way, piece by piece with hot glue, until everything was covered. Worked great!
Oh, and I almost forgot (and completely forgot to take pictures). The shoulder strap of ammo was made from a long strip of vinyl faux leather. Then, I cut rectangle pieces of wood, spray painted them silver, and then glued them to the strip of vinyl. Then I cut thinner strips of vinyl and glue them across each of the blocks, to make it looks as though that’s how they’re being held in place. Then I crossed the two ends of the vinyl and glued them together at the hip.
And the cross bow is something my husband Steve made out in the garage with scrap wood. We just spray painted it black! Connor is in LOVE with that thing! :)
And that’s it! Our little Chewbacca is ready for action!
Enjoy!
-Ashley
Hi, I’m Ashley—the DIY-enthusiast behind this crazy blog!
