Tools Guide: Despicable Me Stuffed Minion Tutorial & Pattern

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Despicable Me Stuffed Minion Tutorial & Pattern

My Husband (and daughter) LOVE Despicable Me.

My bother said that he wanted to teach his future children Latin first, and then English. But we joke that we will teach our daughter Minion as her first language, and then English. :)

This Christmas I decided to make some "cousins" (aka minions) for my husband. They turned out really cute and are so much fun to goof around with while playing with our daughter.

I have to say that I really got inspired by Lucy's Pumpkin Minions from Craftberry Bush.

Above shows how to connect the pattern pieces (aka, tape the Minion body A & B so they become one pattern piece... and do the same for the goggle band)

Excluding the goggle band and the circular icon symbol that goes over their overalls, cut out two of everything (you can double the fabric over and then cut the pattern piece so your cuts will be perfectly symmetrical)

*** Note: the eyes and all of their features (the white circle, black center, lids), hair, and mouth are not included in this pattern. This is somewhat because they are simple to create on your own, but also because mason jar lids vary in size.***

First, I make a twinkie-like shape out of my yellow fabric (if you are reading this in the future, you may not know what a twinkie is/was!)

You will want to make it a little wider then you would envision a minion being, because it will appear thinner once sewn together and stuffed

(You don't want your twinkie to look more like a hot dog, do you?)

Then I cut out the overall part by "tracing" shape of the the yellow body (folded in half) over an old pair of jeans.

I pinned the 90 degree edges of the jeans on each body piece to give it that "overalls" look. Then I sewed them on. Next I cut a felt patch out for the logo and sewed it onto the front body piece.

Now you want to sew the arms together. Just cut four strips just a little longer and a little wider than what you want them to be. Place them in groups of two. Sew the sides together then turn inside out. Now pin them together on the front body piece as pictured above.

Stack the two body pieces together with their fronts facing one another.

Sew together using a 1/4 " hem allowance. But make sure to leave a hole to pull it through... otherwise you'll just have an inside out minion. :P

I left the opening on the center of the bottom part so it will be less noticeable.

All nice and turned right-side-out!

Now you get to stuff your little guy!

Now sew two overall straps (just like the arms!)

Then tuck the ends into each overall part and sew onto the body.

Next sew on buttons (or black felt cut into circles) on the overall straps.

Now you can cut out the strap that will go around his head and his mouth. I used black felt. Sew on the "goggle strap." Now sew on the mouth.

Now for those "irresistible" eyes. Haha.

Grab some Mason Jar Lids. and cut out all the pieces according to the lid's circumference (make the eyelids and white eye pieces slightly larger so they will fill the lid perfectly)

Minions either can have one or two eyes. I decided to do two eyes on this one. You can do all sorts of funny expressions. I added eye lids because I wanted to make him look mischievous (I also make a happy one, pictured at the bottom of the post)

Now you will need a way to attach the Mason Jar Lid to his face, so you will need to poke at least two holes into the metal. I recommend doing at least 3 if this is for a child. Strength in numbers!