In case you're wondering, the title translates to "I have a bad feeling about this" in Shyriiwook or Wookiespeak.
Why have I titled this post in Wookiespeak? Because I made a Wookie. Or at least a toy wookie. A while ago I thought it would be fun to make a Chewie doll that doubled as a pillow, so I finally decided to get on that. I decided to go with a sort of stylized design rather than a really accurate version. If you think he looks a little like Domokun, well, you're not wrong.
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| Concept Design Phase |
I got some faux fur at the fabric store. They didn't really have great options so the fur is a little shorter than I would have wanted, but it works.
I started by folding the fur over into the size rectangle I wanted, cutting off the excess, and then cutting that piece into two halves.
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| Getting an idea of size and placement |
I tried to get an idea for how I wanted the face to look by drawing it on paper.
I cut up the drawing and used it as a pattern for the parts of the face. I've got the background for the mouth plus the tongue and teeth. I decided to use buttons for the eyes.
I went ahead and sewed the eyes on and then started sewing the parts together. First I sewed the tongue on. It's made from some scrap red flannel. I left extra fabric on so it would be secured under the teeth.
I sewed the teeth on next. They're white felt. This was all hand stitched because I don't feel like I'm good enough with the sewing machine to do these tiny parts... not that my hand stitching looks much better.
Next I sewed the mouth in place. Then I cut out a piece of black felt for the nose and sewed it in place.
Once the face was done I sewed the bandoleer together. I used a strap from a tote bag and silver ribbon for the little boxes. I'm not doing a bag like Chewie has because I still want this to be a pillow.
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| Okay so technically I did the bandoleer before I did the nose, but I like this order better. |
I secured the bandoleer by hand stitching it in a few places and let it overhang the edges so it would get sewed into the seam. Then I layed the other half over top, pinned it in place so that it was inside out and sewed it together leaving a small hole at the bottom for stuffing.
I flipped it inside out and Ta-Da!
Now for the stuffing.
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| Chewie looks terrified. |
Once he was all stuffed (it took the whole bag) I sewed him shut.
All done!
Stuffed Chewie activate! Form of PILLOW!
Now I have a stuffed Chewbacca AND a nice brown faux fur pillow! This pillow is going to my son for Christmas, but I cut out two of everything and if you like it I can make another one. I'm thinking about selling it for $25, so if you, or the Star Wars nerd in your life, have a hankering for a wookie hug shoot me an e-mail at joseph.landrum(REMOVETHIS)@gmail.com and we can talk business.
