Despicable Me Minion Costume

Materials:
Foam Mat (found at wal-mart)
Felt - Yellow (3 yards ), White (1 - 8"x11"sheet ), Black (1 - 8"x11"sheet )
Denim - Blue (2 yards for overall)
Black Mesh (see through pupils)
1 can of Spray adhesive
Glue that will adhere on foam (Gorilla)
Nylon or Polypropylene strap - black (2 yards)
Gray "Latex or Vinyl" Spray paint -
Black Thread
Neodymium Magnets (easier to align head and body and keep it together)

optional:
Plaster (use to make goggle look smoother"
Twine
Sand Paper

9v battery
2 old pc fan
toggle switch

Tools:

Computer w/ Printer
Scissors
Sharp Razor Blade
Sewing Machine
Fabric Pins
Black Permanent Pen

optional:
Soldering Iron

Step 1: Tracing Stencils

Tools needed on this step:

Computer w/ Printer
Permanent Marker
Scissors

Instructions:
use the stencil provided Click on the "I" on the picture to download the original files, when you print the stencil make sure your scale it to fit your needs, for Me I scaled it to 200% and adjust it to fit two separate piece of 8"x11" paper, after that I cut it and glue the two piece together. Your stencil should be complete.

Repeat using bottom.jpg

The foam mats should roll out to be around 71"x20, the package will say (70"x20"), unroll one of the mats and trace out the stencil on the mats, there should be at least 17 of them with a little over a inch left. you will need to free hand that last inch into a similar shape as the stencil.

Repeat using bottom.jpg

Step 2: Cutting Out the Pattern

Tools needed on this step:

Sharp Razor
Tape
Glue

optional:
Soldering Iron
Twine

Instructions:

First thing your going to do is cut out the unnecessary pieces as shown in the picture. Once that is done. there is several ways you can put the pieces together

Glue:
Glue the end pieces together to form a circle, use the tape to hold it together while the glue is drying. once the Glue is dry, begin gluing all the pointing pieces together, it should take look like a half sphere once you are done. look at the pictures for references( i took the Twine route).


Optional Route: Twine and soldering Iron
Stitch the end pieces together to form a circle, Then use a Soldering Iron to poke holes into the foam, it will make it a lot easier to stitch. if you don't have a large needle, use tape and wrap it around the end piece to form a sturdy point, that will make life much easier. once that is done begin stitching all the pointing pieces together, it should take look like a half sphere once you are done. look at the pictures for references.

Repeat for bottom section.

once your done with top and bottom section, it should look like GIANT blue pill.

Step 3: Wrapping the Head and Body

Tools needed on this step:

Scissors
permanent pen
Adhesive spray
neodymium Magnets

Instructions:

First step is to measure how much felt is needed to cover the head, wrap it around the head and cut off the portion that is needed, then glue the felt around and work out the creases so its smooth( can be tricky ).

before you start on the bottom section make sure you cut out arms holes on the side, after that just repeat the gluing and wrapping.

next step is to align the body and the head, there should be a overlapping section of felt where the ends meets each other, i find it easier to just use that line to line up the two sections.

I then taped 20 neodymium magnets on the body and the head so it will just snap together when I place it close to each other, it makes aligning a lot easier, it also keeps the head from falling off.

Step 4: The Goggles

Tools needed on this step:

Sharp Razor
Tape
Glue
scissors

optional:
Plaster

Instructions:

For the Goggles, first thing were going to do is cut  a strip of foam and glue the end piece together, use tape to fasten it while drying.

repeat Step

you should now have two pieces that are in a shape of a circle, glue those two together by the seam (where you first glue it, use picture as reference). then cut a smaller strip of foam and glue it on on the outer layer of each circle, make sure it's lined up with the top.

You should have a something that looks like cheap binoculars, after that measure how far you want the goggles to concave into the body of the minion, trace it and cut concave out so it will fit snugly to the minion's body.

Next step is to spray the goggle gray.

Optional: Plastering

I plastered the top portion of the goggles to make it smoother, after plastering i sand it smooth. On the other note, it might look smoother but its now fragile.

To make the eye, you'll need the black mesh(see through) and the the other piece of white felt. This is where the black mesh will come in handy, since it's see through it will be the pupils. You'll need to cut out circles into the white felt, as seen in the picture, then glue the mesh to the felt, then the cut and glue the felt to the back end of the goggles and cut the excess off. Once that is done you'll need to trace the back of the goggle to the front of the head, cut out two circles"eyes" (what you have just traced) and stitch the goggle to the front of the head.

for the goggles strap use the nylon strap and wrap it around the head and pin it, then stitch the side end of the strap to the side of the goggle, you can then glue the strap or stitch the strap to the head.

Step 5: Overall and Pocket Logo

Tools needed on this step:

Glue
Sewing Machine
Scissors
thread

Instructions:

There's 8 parts to the overall, the logo, pocket, front and back top, front and back pants, and two straps. The logo can be scaled and printed to size.

For the overall, the picture shown is just a rough sketch. Just measure your minion and cut and scale the denim fabric to shapes similar to the ones in the pictures. Then sew the pocket to the front top, the front top to the front pants, then the front top to the front pants, then the straps to the corners of the tops. Then just sew the pants portion to each other. Then alter as needed to fit your minion.

Note: Only Sew around the side edges, leave the top and bottom open.

I Labeled the Fabric with letters, just match the letters each other A to A, Y to Y, you get the point.

Once you got the overall done, just put it on the minion and stitch/glue it on to it. Your almost done.

Step 6: Mouth and Arms

For the mouth, you can just wing it depending on what mood you want the minion to be.

The arms is just a piece of yellow felt sewed together( just wear as sleeves). I found out It's a lot easier getting out of the minion if it's not sewed to the body.

Step 7: You Got Your Own Minion

Just Grab a pair of boots and some black gloves and you got yourself a minion.

Enjoy being a minion.

After wearing the Costume for 2 minute, i found out that it got pretty hot inside.
i added a fan on the top (exhaust) of the minion and one on the back (intake), Covered it with yellow mesh so air can escape and enter. Connect each fan to separate battery with a toggle switch which is hidden right under the top of the overalls. Feels much better now.

Comments

[DelsoubioA]

Very nice Job ! much cheaper than buy a minions costume. I'll do this with my kid

BTW, I made a link of your article to my blog related to the minions word (www.planetminion.com), I hope you are ok with that

[metametagirl]

I posted my "unfinished" minion below on Nov 1, 2010. I am proud to report that I finally finished the minion this week! I waited around for Despicable Me 2 to come out before dressing as the minion again. I won 2 out of 3 costume contests this week. Thank you and Happy Halloween!

[wreckhouse]

Thanks so much for the detailed plans, especially the head "petal" template! I had to make many improvisations (based on another costume plan), but the head template saved the day when my paper mache heads collapsed!

[Tia427]

Great ideas for making the Minion.  I used papier-mâché, plaster, cardboard and 1 inch foam.  I also used swimming noodles to help keep the shape.  Adding finishing touches made it look really professional.  My daughter won 1st prize for most creative costume.  Thanks for your tips!

[lrutz]

Finally finished! Next year I hope he wants to be a superhero or something that doesn't require ANY work! LOL!! It was a big hit at school today, though, I must say.

[n8hines]

Thanks so much for the inspiration. Following your instructions with a few modifications here is mine:

[lrutz]

Looks awesome! Love his expression. LOL!

[evachowder14]

Hi umm i was just wondering... About how much would it cost to make one?

[lrutz]

Hey! I'm making one now. It's a bit pricey. About 8 each for the mats, got the felt for half price at Joann's for $3/yard, a couple dollars a piece for the craft foam. The mesh I already had, but it's about $11 a roll at Home Depot. I'm hoping to use a pair of extra large real denim overalls from Goodwill and jury rig it on my machine, so that shouldn't be too expensive, but if you have to buy the denim as well, factor that in. The result is tres cool, though!

[lrutz]

Making one right now! Cut the mat into 53"length for my 7 year old and sized the pattern 150% on the printer. Used duct tape to put it together, and although the pieces didn't quite meet up evenly at the top, I covered the hole with duct tape on the outside and inside, and it looks perfect. When I'm done, I'll post. Thanks for the inspiration--I didn't know where to begin! Son is soooo excited.

[craineum]

Thanks for the inspiration! Here is mine.

[jovs0615]

I made my own minion version using your suggestions but had to make my own modifications. My daughter loves it and she even won first price. Thank you for sharing your ideas.

[sveedish]

Amazing instructions and wonderful results! I made a few modifications to save me some time and money - it was for my 4 1/2 year old son. He got so many compliments on it, and many many smiles as he went trick-or-treating. Thank you so much for coming up with this great idea.

[Wellsie]

Hi - I'm trying to make this for a small 7 year old. I'm finding the dimensions too big. Do you know what size template you used?

[cagrown]

I'm glad you and your son liked it.

[ilovegiraffes]

So I would like to be my class mascot, and we are the Minions. What size does this fit best? I am about 5'4. I don't want it to look weird with my legs sticking about ... any suggestions?

[cagrown]

It's pretty much trial and error for sizing, the costume was so long ago that I forgot all the dimension. I'm about 5'7 to 5'8( on good days), I had to bend a little to look proportion.

[jbostwick103]

I'm so happy I found this site. Thank You! This halloween my son really wanted to be a despicable me minion, so I made him this. I'm going to make my daughter a purple minion version too.

[kschwartz1]

Wow - took a looong time to construct...a lot of hidden masking tape as well!

[mike10003]

Used this for the 96.1 Kiss Party here in Pittsburgh, everyone LOVED my costume. I only got 4th in this costume contest haha. Thanks for the help though! Awesome awesome time.