building an Eve costume from Disney/Pixar's Wall-E

My 9 year old daughter wanted to go as Eve (from Disney/Pixar's Wall-E film), but there were no costumes for sale. So we decided to build one. It took a few evenings, but was a big hit.

For this Instructable, you'll need:

- a white trash can
- hot glue gun (and a lot of hot glue sticks)
- wire mesh
- black panty hose
- blue spray paint
- skil and/or speed saw
- drill
- an old baseball cap or hat
- EL wire (blue and green) and appropriate power/electronics
- paper lantern (we got it from IKEA)
- stiff plastic L (we used an IKEA storage top)

Step 1: Buy a Trash Can that is the right shape

We found a trash can made by Umbra called the "Sway". Ideally you would find one with a curved base, like Eve. Make sure that the person who will be wearing the costume will fit it - so make sure they can stand in it before you buy it.

After you do anything else, you'll need to cut the bottom off so the wearer can get their legs through. You'll want the top of bottom to get up a bit above their shoulders. In my daughter's case, that meant there was about 18" from the bottom of the can to the ground.

Comments

[missfy]

that's weird but cool

[nicoleinsd]

Do you remember the size of the trash can?  Or where you got it?  I haven't found any store that has it.  I saw it on Amazon which it says it measurements are 10x16 (2.5 gallons) and that seems quite small.

[Mia bea]

this is adorable! I love it!

[dokworm]

Looks fantastic, going to give it a shot if I can find a similar trash can/bin in Australia. About the only thing I'll change is have a go at squaring off the bottom of eve's face to make it more like the movie character.

[santy22]

Hi thar, im a flying trashcan....

[martymunch]

Nice job. This turned out very cool. Nice use of the trash bin.

[jennyjune]

This is so cute! I actually had a conversation with a friend right before Halloween about how he wanted to make an Eve costume for his girlfriend, but we weren't sure how to go about it. This is so perfect! Nice job :)

[drwave]

Thanks! I don't think you could be much bigger than my 9 yr old and fit in this particular trash can, though, which makes it hard to think of an adult version.

[Rossiroller]

wow you must be the coolest dad ever!

[ker-boom101]

Awesome!

[canida]

That looks fabulous! What would you estimate the final cost for parts? I'd presume 90% is the EL wire.

[drwave]

The EL wire and supporting circuitry is most of the money, although if you don't have an appropriate trash can, that can run tens of dollars (I'll check with my wife). I bought the more expensive thick EL wire, and in retrospect, I think the thinner (and cheaper) wire would have worked as well. I also bought a prebuilt EL-wire assembly (i.e. already soldered to the battery pack) for the plant light at Al Lasher's, so that was around $15, and was probably only a few dollars in parts. You can definitely make it cheaper than I did, but I was working under a deadline and was shooting from the hip, so there was a certain amount of waste in this one. I'd say we probably spent $100 on it (For example, I had to buy all the spray paint new as well, even though we only used a small amount).

[Bartboy]

Awesome!

[stienman]

Awesome!