Introduction: Brain Slug Plushie + Pattern
[monotonous] "I got you an official Bender hat."
The Brain Slug is one of my favorite creatures on Futurama, and quite possibly one of the easiest and most fun Halloween costumes I've done in a while. What's not fun about talking in a monotone voice, and if it falls off your head you can loudly exclaim, "I'm free of that nightmare!"
You'll need a few hours of time, and a basic knowledge of sewing to complete this cute little Brain Slug plushie.
Step 1: Materials and Pattern
Materials:
- Fleece (bright green)
- Black and White scraps for the eye
- Green thread
- Pins
- Scissors
- Needle
- Sharpie marker
- Sewing Machine (optional)
- Printer (for the pattern)
- Stuffing (Poly-Fill)
When you print out the pattern be sure that you don't shrink the image in any way. The image is already sized to 8.5 x 11, and reducing the size to "fit to margin" or anything like that will make things smaller than we want. Once you have the pattern printed out and cut up, you need to cut out some fleece for your Brain Slug.
You'll need:
- (14) Feets
- (1) Bottom
- (2) Side Piece
- (4) Antenna
Attachments
Step 2: Antennae and Feets
Start out by sewing two pieces of the Antenna together by using an overcast stitch. These are really skinny, and we wont be able to flip them inside out, so I decided to use that stitch since it's somewhat decorative, and I just like how it looks. I did the same thing for the Feets, except I wound up flipping those. These should all be done by hand, since they're so small.
Once you're done, you should wind up with a pair of Antenna for the Slug, and seven little nubby feet thingies (which I will still call Feets).
Step 3: Putting It Together
Grab the Bottom and lay out the seven Feets in a circle, (facing inwards) lining them up with the outside edge. Next you need to pin each of the Side Piece sections on top of the Feets and Bottom. Each one of the Side Piece sections will only make slightly more than halfway around the Bottom, so try to line it up. Once you have all of the pieces pinned in place, sew it, attaching the Bottom, Feets, and bottom of the Side Piece sections. I used my machine for this part.
If you flip it "right-side out" like I did in the last picture, be sure to flip it back to the way it was (inside-out).
Step 4: Antennae and Final Seam
Grab the two Antenna you finished earlier and pin them to one Side Piece on the inside. Then you need to pin the two sides of the Side Piece sections together. Once you have it pinned in place, sew along the edge (I used my machine) making sure to leave an opening.
You need to leave about a two inch hole so we can flip the Brain Slug inside out, stuff it, and give it an eye.
Step 5: The Eye
You can make the eye just about any way you want. The animators from Futurama seem to switch between a circle eye and a pinched circle, but you could do just about anything. I chose to find a small circular based object and traced it on a scrap of white fleece I had. After cutting it out I affixed a black pupil I sourced from another tiny scrap of black fleece.
Find a good spot to place it on your Brain Slug. Then pin, and hand sew it on.
Step 6: Fill and Finish!
When stuffing the Brain Slug be sure not to over-stuff, or else the bottom will be convex instead of concave, and will not sit on anyone's head properly. You could fill it with most anything. The most common stuffing is Poly-Fill (a polyester based toy stuffing), and if you buy a bag at Joann or something you'll have enough to make quite a few more.
Once you have your Brain Slug filled up with a desirable amount of stuffing you'll need to close up that last seam using a ladder stitch.
As for attaching it to your head, and wearing it around. I'll leave that up to you and your own personal preferences. You could have a string that goes under your chin, attach it to a hairband, use bobby pins or hair clips, etc.
Thanks for reading!
Participated in the
Halloween Props Challenge
3 People Made This Project!
Aku-chan made it!- CarrieLizBeth made it!
- sfolk1 made it!
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26 Comments
10 years ago on Introduction
I just wanted to say THANK YOU! This pattern and the directions worked perfectly! I now have two brain slugs ready for the invasion!
Only change I made was using a googlie eye instead of a felt one.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Nice job!
10 years ago on Introduction
Someone asked me how I put my brain slug on a head band, and I suppose it might interest other people too, so here are my tips :
*get the plainest and thinnest headband you can find. I used a thin black plastic one.
*before sewing the bottom to the sides (it is easier, you can do it once the brain slug is finished but it is tedious), cut a rectangular piece of fleece a little larger than the headband and sew along the lengths under the bottom.
*ensure the headband can go through it. Most likely the tube you have sewn will be too large and the brain slug might slip down, if so make another, tighter seam, keeping the headband in. You don't really have to undo the first seam.
*the tube should be tight enough now to hold the headband while allowing it to be taken off.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Nicely done!
Just in time for Halloween.
10 years ago on Introduction
I love it and already made 4 for friends who happened to pass by and loved the one I had made for me.
I found the first one too big for my head so I made the others 75% of the original size. I put a little filling behind the eye and added a strip of fleece under the slug to attach a headband.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Looks great!
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
I also put some plastic from a Coke bottle in the antennae to keep them stiff.
11 years ago on Introduction
Our mission was to go to the brain slug planet...
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
Great job!
11 years ago on Introduction
Finally got around to making one. I'm giving it away as a late Christmas gift. Made a few modifications like some stuffing behind the eye and a little bit in the antennae. Thanks for posting! :]
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
Awesome work!
7 months ago on Step 2
My invasion scouts are ready! Thanks for the pdf. I was able to upload the design into my Cricut design space so my machine cut out all the little pieces and it went very quickly!
1 year ago
I made this with my 10 year old son. Thanks for the pattern and for letting him know that other boys do sew! He loved making the brain slug.
9 years ago
I am having my 18th birthday party theme around hats and i have chosen this little guy to be my hat for the night. Thanks for this I am going to have fun making ot.
10 years ago on Introduction
We made one too - and my kid just love it!
I made a little change - I've added pipe cleaners to the antena, so now they're bendable.
Thanks for the great design!
Merav
10 years ago on Introduction
omg i love you for posting this! this is gonna be the best halloween costume ever! my sis, her bf, and i are gonna have brain slugs on our head as we zombie it around town. i'll make sure to post a photo of us when brain drain day comes around :)
11 years ago on Introduction
This is the reason you should be able to like instructables on facebook!
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
wish you can like comments on instructables
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
Me too! Lol!
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
should pm, email, etc. the instructables administrator