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. π
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.
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. π
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!
Now sew ’em on!
For the eyelids, I just glued the hem. Lazy but quick! π
Now we can give him hands and fingers! Again, I just used felt.
And our minion needs some style, now we need to give him hair. You could use black yarn too.
Classy. π
Now for those chubby little legs!
Cut out two rectangles , sew up the sides, turn ’em right side out and stuff them.
Now attach them to the body.
Last, our minion needs feet to help him get around and accomplish his mischievous feats!
I just cut a square, stuffed some poly fill in it, then attached to the legs.
Now everyone say, “Whaaaaaaaaat?”
Oh! My! Goodness! This is absolutely adorable! Love the mason jar goggles. π
Thanks! π
My daughter would be the happiest child EVER if I made her one of these. Awsome, thank you for the tutorial.
No Problem! <3
i love the idea thanks for posting i will attempt to make some
love this thanks so much for sharing ,
thats really cute and thanks for the tutorial! π
I'm sure your daughter will love her new yellow companions too!
Do drop by my etsy shop if you have the time to check out despicable me minions that I make too! thanks π
https://www.etsy.com/shop/craftygru
I would really love to see the pattern! are you still planning to post it?
Hi Erin, yes I am still planning on posting the pattern. I'm in the middle of a move right now so all of my stuff is in storage (including the pattern!)
I'll hopefully have it up in the next 2-3 Weeks though! π
Thanks for posting the pattern!I'm wondering about the hands. Did you cut 4 and do it the same as the arms so you can stuff it? Or did you just keep them flat. Also I think you actually need 4 of the overall straps, arms, legs, feet, and hands. Is that right? And the feet look way bigger than the legs, is that right? I'm making 3 and I don't want to mess it up! Thanks!
Oh, I see now how you did the feet. I guess you really do only 2 feet right?
Hi Erin,
For the hands I left them flat.
I only did two of the overall straps and two of the arms. I folded each one over width wise in half, sewed them together, and then I turned them inside out. I did the same for the legs… So only cut out 2 for the arms and overall straps, 2 for the legs, and 2 for the feet.
Hope that makes sense!
<3 Hannah
Hi, Hannah!
Just loved your blog and this project! (sorry for some english mistakes, iΒ΄m from Rio!!)
When you post this pattern, can you advise me? My kids are 'super minions fans' they laugh a lot at them…
Thaks for sharing!
kisses, Sibelle (sibellesousa@gmail.com)
Hi Sibelle,
I will definitely let you know when I post it (hopefully in a day or two)
<3 Hannah
Thank you very much!!! kisses, Si.
THANK HEAVENS FOR YOU. My 6 yo nephew just called me and said "Hi Aunty Christy, this is Spencer. Brooklyn (his 4 yo sister) and I were wondering if you could make us some minions toys from Despicable Me so that we have them to cuddle in bed at night. Can you please make them tonight?"
You just made this a whole lot easier for me!
Haha! I'm glad it's helpful! π
Wow…it's amazing! ^^
Thanks for this tutorial! I'll be making this for my partner for when he returns from holiday! π
Is Body part A and B stitched together? It doesn't look like there is a seam on the pictures.
No, that was just so the pattern would be standard print size. π
This. Is. So. COOL! I love this! On my to-do list π
Love love love your minion tute. My grandsons would adore it! Thanks for sharing.
http://freshjuniper.blogspot.com
Reecea
One of my friends from high school( we are 40ish now) just asked me to make her a stuffed minion… thank you SO very much for having a pattern and tutorial! I'm not sure mine will be as ADORABLE .. π You did a GREAT JOB!
I want to thank you for this Tutorial, just made my life so easy π … hereΒ΄s my Minion Kevin http://instagram.com/p/c77W49Mivj/
I am not a member of Scribd, is it possible to get your pattern somewhere else? Thank you. My nephew would love a few Minions for his 4th birthday!
You don't need to be a member to download. Just open up all the individual patter pieces in a new tab and there should be a download/print option.
Have fun! π
So easy to follow IF only I had thought a little more! Thank you so much, these are going to be adorable and I know he will love them. Thank you again for doing all the hard work for this pattern.
Haha! No problem, it would probably confuse me too! π
I made "Jerry" for my 5 y-o in August; she loved it so much, she asked for Kevin for Christmas (Ouch, my poor fingers, I do not have a sewing machine!). This is a fantastic idea!
"Less smart/happy one"? That's a shame. You could have just used "happy", or any number of other descriptors. As the mother of a profoundly disabled chid I'm sad that you chose the lazy way to describe your minion. People will laugh at my comment, but those people have no concept of how many times parents of disabled children come across comments like this. They make a mothers heart hurt. It wasn't necessary. My son loves minions, and your pattern is cute. I just feel sadder now than I did 19 minutes ago. Words are very powerful.
I didn't mean it in a derogatory way at all and in no way would that description carry over to children. My 7 year old sister in law has disabilities and I think she is super smart, almost too smart actually! π
So from one loving mommy to the other, please don't take my description of a silly minion out of context and know that I believe all children are beautiful and smart! <3
I'm sure you didn't mean it to hurt at all – but that's the point – people don't realize just how powerful words are. Parents of children with cognitive disabilities come across comments on a regular basis that just make the breath catch in your chest.
I just wanted to nicely (because I'm sure you absolutely did not mean for your comments to hurt, I believe that!) suggest that the "less smart" part be taken out, perhaps?
You were so kind to post the pattern; I'd hate to think that another loving mother might have the same saddened feeling while reading your post as I did. π
It's really hard to explain the feelings the words evoke – I'm not trying to change the world – I'm just trying to explain how sad it is to see my child's "less smart" existence (feel as if) it's used as an object of humor.
I'm sorry for taking your time. π
You don't have to be sorry because I completely agree with you. Words are so powerful & I really appreciate you taking the time to share that all with me. I edited it after your first comment! π
I hope you still make a minion for your beautiful child and I hope he likes it! <3
hey hannah, first of all thank you soooo much for sharing that pattern, your minions look adorable!
i would love to sew kind of a "hot-water-bag-minion" for my boyfriend for christmas, do you have any idea how i could do the stuffing? i wouldnt wanna loose that nice & cuddly feeling the cotton gives them.. π
Just made up some softies for my niece and nephew for Christmas, thanks! They look great!
http://achristyproduction.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/diy-minion-softies.html
Adorable!
I am our clan's largest Minion fan. I shall make dozens and they will do MY bidding! Bwa-ha-ha!
Thanks for this great tutorial. I am happy with my new friend. Greetings from Germany