Minion Halloween Costume | Projects by Zac

This is my final post on how I made my Minion (from the movies Despicable Me) costume for Halloween. I had a clear vision, as discussed in my first post How to Make a Minion Halloween Costume – Part 1, from the start for this costume. I will admit to not quite making my vision a reality with this costume. However, I am pleased with how it turned out none the less. Lesson learned, yet again, is that I MUST start costume construction earlier. Next year I plan to start my costume on or before October 1st. After designing and printing the goggles on my 3D printer as shown in the previously shared post: How to Make a Minion Costume for Halloween– Part 2 ( 3D Printed Minion Goggles ) I had at cutting and sewing up the pants and shirt for my Minion Costume. The shirt made from a super stretchy knit fabric was simply a big tube with two skinny tubes sewn on for arms and is not discussed in detail.

I typically start by laying out the design on my materials, in this case some 4oz denim that I bought specifically for this costume at my local JoAnne Fabric store. I used a fabric tape measure and yardstick to roughly measure the dimensions I needed for my costume. I carefully made cutting lines onto the fabric with chalk. I had just barely enough material to make the costume from the 2 yards I purchased so I had to be very precise in my layout and cutting.

After cutting the fabric, the one side seam was sewn up by machine quickly. Then all of the edges up top around the bib folded over and finished. Sewing on a machine makes very fast work of straight edges and the lightweight denim fabric was not problematic to sew, unlike heavy denim can be.

For the pocket I cut out a printed Grue logo I drew up in illustrator. I used a sharp hobby knife to cut out the logo from the 110lb card stock I printed it onto creating a pattern or mask. Application of spray adhesive allowed me to attach the logo mask onto the denim “pocket”. Be careful here that you spray the foam on the correct side of your logo mask. I then used automotive black Vinyl and Fabric spray dye to make a very nice looking Gru logo on the pocket. This took 5-6 carefully sprayed on thin coats but the final product looks very much like it was screen printed with plastisol ink. This method can be used for one off printing on fabrics and leathers. It saves the hassle of having to make a screen. Also you can make this technique work on round, or other non flat surfaces onto which it is impossible to screen print. I stitched the pocket on to finished the Minion overalls.

To keep the short stumpy legs look (in the above photo) and the tubular shape of the body, I used a piece of 3/8″ PEX tubing from the plumbing section. I carefully cut it to the right length to stretch out the bottom of the pants keeping the Minion-esque shape. Using a simple brass PEX union, I was able to bend the tube into a hoop. The hoop slides into a pocket sewn on the inside of the pants pulling the bottom flat and adding just enough weight to get the right drape needed for the costume.

For the minion head, I used hard styrofoam sheet cut into 12 inche diameter circles and laminated together with a half sphere I purchased. I had a hard time finding a foam sphere the size I wanted. My costume is largely designed around the 12″ hollow half sphere that I purchased at the Hobby Lobby. I really would have liked a 14″ or 16″ one to hide my shoulders better but I could not find anything in that size at reasonable cost and designed around the 12″ diameter. I cut pink foam board on a band saw into 12″ diameter disks. I then cut out a rough “head shape” so this could all be worn as a hat/helmet.

I originally planned to mount the Minion goggles (see my previous post) from my 3d printer directly onto a foam ring, but even with epoxy reinforced plastic tubes added to strengthen the foam it was quickly apparent that the foam was not strong enough to support the weight of the goggles. I cut a 12″ outer diameter ring out of some very light white pine to handle the load from the almost 1 lb goggles.

I’m a huge fan of the Rhino Grip Acrylic adhesive tape shown above in the left hand photo. It’s sold in the roll flooring section at Home Depot and Lowes. It’s officially used for modified loose lay installation of vinyl floors. It’s perfect for sticking foam, or anything else together. The goggles were attached to the wooden ring through two holes drilled into it. I had epoxied two #10 threaded rod sections into the goggles for mounting into the ring. I wanted to be able to take the head apart and felt threaded fasteners for mounting was the best option.

I bought white duct tape at Walmart (the only place local that had it) and covered the entire foam construct with white tape. This was partially to hide seams and partially to provide a nice smooth surface to slide into the yellow knit fabric “skin” I sewed up for the head/neck.

With the addition of an elastic neck strap to the minion head it was possible to wear the helmet but the Goggles made it very front heavy. My solution was to add a counter weight in the form of a 1/8″ x 4″ x 6″ steel plate hammer formed to the 12″ diameter on the back of the head. This brings the weight of the entire helmet to about 2.5 lbs. I added some soft foam to the inside to help spread the load making it more comfortable to wear.

For the hair I used standard black pipe cleaners. I cut the pipe cleaner down to 3″ lengths and carefully poked it directly into the foam. With the right technique it went in through the fabric, the duct tape, and foam easily. The last steps of my costume involved hand stitching some black screen/mesh for a mouth. I had hoped to print out some sort of mouth on the 3d printer with teeth and tongue but I ran out of time. In the end I am very happy with this years Halloween Costume.

I hope my three posts on this subject (Links to: Part 1 and Part2 ) have helped you with your Despicable Me Minion Halloween Costume Construction. I am already thinking about what I will make for next Halloween, though I am considering wearing one of my last three costumes.

As you can see in the above photo, this year for Halloween I was a Minion from the lovable Despicable Me movies. I fell in love with minions the first time I saw them. Not only are Minions adorable, but they are every inventor/scientist/evil genius’s dream. An army of little workers who build your creations while you are busy thinking up more inventions. While I have a CNC machine and a 3d printer that build me things while I work on other projects but it’s not the same as having my own minion army. Oh the things I could accomplish with a minion army… But I digress, this post is about making a Minion Halloween costume. The first step in making a great Halloween costume is selecting an approach, setting your costume functionality requirements, and finding reference materials showing your character. This post will cover this first stage of the costume construction. I will cover this costume in 2 or 3 posts to break up the writing.

The last few years I’ve been really into making my own Halloween Costumes. Making the costume is almost as fun as going out to celebrate the holiday. I feel like Halloween is the only holiday that is even more fun as an adult then it was as a kid. Two years ago I was Kung Fu Panda. Kung Fu Panda was a last minute costume but came out well. My requirements for the Kung Fu Panda costume were less stringent then my more recent costumes. Simply that it be clearly identifiable as Po from Kung Fu Panda cartoons and movies. I primarily based my design off of a few pictures I found, and a small plastic happy meal toy I “borrowed” from my nephew. Having an action figure or plastic model of your character choice makes costume design and construction go easily. You can measure and scale a physical model using calipers to get proportions correct.

Last year I was the man in the Yellow Hat from Curious George. My costume requirements changed to include allowing me to dance salsa in costume, as I was certain to be at a few Halloween Salsa Parties. I used illustrations from the Curious George books as well as pictures. The key element was getting the Hat to be about the right proportions to match my frame. You can find my complete posts on making this costume at these links: How to make the Man in the Yellow Hats Hat and Dying Fabric for Halloween Costumes.

I give credit for my initial inspiration for this costume to my friend Laura who sent me a link to the above photo one afternoon in July. She knew I was a fan of the cute yellow minions and that I was still looking for an idea for my costume. I saw the photo and was instantly sold on the idea that I would be a Minion for Halloween this year. The above photo shows but one of many way to make a quick easy and low cost minion costume for Halloween. A pair of dungaree bib jeans, and a yellow hoodie with a bit of pip cleaners for hair and some goggles is all you need for this simple costume.

Enter the research stage. After lots of searching the internet looking at pictures like the one above, finding some minion toys to model after, and rewatching Despicable Me I had formulated my approach toward my costume. I decided that the most important part of the minions was their goggles/eyes and round head. I decided to focus much of my costume construction efforts building very accurate 3d renderings in CAD software and then printing out Minion Goggles on my 3D Printer. I also came to the conclusion that making the correct pants was important. I was looking into buying a pair of bibbed denim overalls. I even went to several stores,and tried on different pairs. After seeing myself in the dressing room mirror wearing the real bibbed overalls I felt that both the color and style did not really fit with the simple fun Minion character I was hoping to capture in my costume. I decided to make minion Pants complete with short stumpy legs because that’s part of what makes a minion a minion.

I really want this post to be a collection of ideas for someone in the future to see different approaches to making minion costumes. I met several of my fellow minions while out for Halloween Festivities and then friends had taken pics of Minions they saw. Below are some other peoples approaches at making a Minion Costume.

I like the above approach, I didn’t see these until after Halloween when a friend shared them on Facebook.

The above ideas inspired my approach, using a full body “head”. I wish I could have found a spherical foam or other lightweight dome that was larger then the 12″ foam half sphere I ended up using for my costume. My shoulders are considerably broader then 12″ so the head I built was not exactly what I wanted but was what I could make given the availability of easily and cheaply obtainable materials.

I like the different ways people used hats for their minion costumes in the above pictures. Had time allowed I was going to buy a yellow hat and put black yarn through it for hair so I could have a more dance worthy inner hat to wear as well as the full costume. I did dance 2 or 3 songs in full costume before removing the Minion head due to it being a bit hot with it on.

These people win for the best family themed costumes I’ve seen in a long time. Super awesome!

In my next posts I will share specific details on how I measure, size, design and make my minion costume. Click here to continue learning how I made my Minion Costume for Halloween, http://www.projectsbyzac.com/1101/reprap-3d-printer/how-to-make-a-minion-costume-for-halloween-part-2-3d-printed-minion-goggles

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Tag Archives: Minion Halloween Costume

How to Make a Minion Halloween Costume – Part 3

How to Make a Minion Halloween Costume – Part 1

Sharing some of my projects and what I've learned along the way