Huge, Life-sized BB-8 - Free Crochet Pattern

This BB-8 has a head that turns, and if you like, you can even buy a recordable sound box, and program him to make BB-8 noises when you squeeze him! How fun is that? I bought my sound box from InviteByVoice, who sells them on both Amazon and Etsy. Finished item is just under 12 inches tall.

Please note that BB-8 is trademarked by Disney. You are free to make these for friends or family, but Disney may sue you if you try to sell them.

Now, enjoy the pattern!

Supplies needed:

Worsted weight yarn in white, orange and grey. I recommend Lion's Brand Pound of Love in white, Red Heart Soft in tangerine, and Knit Picks Brava in dove heather.

G hook (for head, head base, body, and orange rings)

E hook (for orange ring spikes and grey details)

Safety eyes, 30mm and 18mm

5 inch wooden doll joint (or 120mm doll/teddy bear joint, available on Etsy.) Or, Make Your Own!

Polyfil stuffing

Optional Supplies:
weights for the bottom. I used glass marbles tied into a sock. He may have been able to stand up without it.

Pipe Cleaner for antennas

Recordable Voice Box

Pattern is worked amigurumi style, in continuous rounds. Do not join. Use a stitch marker to mark rounds as necessary.

Head base:

With two strands of WW yarn and a G hook.

MR, 6 sc
Rd 2: inc around (12)
Rd 3: sc, inc around (18)
Rd 4: sc x 2, inc around (24)
Rd 5: sc x3, inc around (30)
Rd 6: sc x 4, inc around (36)
Rd 7: sc x 5, inc around (42)
Rd 8: sc x 6, inc around (48)

Circle should cover a five inch doll joint with about a row of overhang all around.

 Head base with half of doll joint.

 

Put aside and make body. 

Body:

With two strands of WW yarn and a G hook.

MR, 6 sc
Rd 2: inc around (12)
Rd 3: sc, inc around (18)
Rd 4: sc x 2, inc around (24)
Rd 5: sc x3, inc around (30)
Rd 6: sc x 4, inc around (36)
Rd 7: sc x 5, inc around (42)
Rd 8: sc x 6, inc around (48)
Rd 9: sc x 7, inc around (54)
Rd 10: sc x 8, inc around (60)
Rd 11: sc around (60)
Rd 12: sc x 9, inc around (66)
Rd 13: sc x 10, inc around (72)
Rd 14: sc around (72)
Rd 15: sc x 11, inc around (78)
Rd 16-21: sc around (78)

Insert doll joint into top, with pin sticking up into head, attach head base circle and second half of doll joint, bend wires down to fasten.

 

Rd 22: sc x 11, inv dec around (72)
Rd 23: sc x 10, inv dec around (66)
Rd 24-25: sc around (66)
Rd 26: sc x 9, inv dec around (60)
Rd 27: sc x 8, inv dec around (54)
Rd 28: sc x 7, inv dec around (48)
Rd 29: sc x 6, inv dec around (42)
Rd 31: sc x 5, inv dec around (36)
Rd 32: sc x 4, inv dec around (30)

If you are installing a sound box, see my directions here for creating an opening.

Stuff body firmly - Insert weights if desired. I filled a sock with glass marbles. Rice, or weighted pellets can also be used. This is to balance out the weight of the doll joint and head.

Rd 33: sc x 3, inv dec around (24)
Rd 34: inv dec around (12)
Finish stuffing
Rd 35: dec until hole closes, sew shut and hide tail in body.

Head:

With two strands of WW yarn and a G hook.

Starting with white

MR, 6 sc
Rd 2: inc around (12)
Rd 3: Switch to grey, inc, sc (18)
Rd 4: switch back to white, sc x 2, inc around (24)
Rd 5: sc x 3, inc around (30)
Rd 6: sc x 4, inc around (36)
Rd 7: sc x 5, inc around (42)
Rd 8: sc around (42)
Rd 9: sc x 6, inc around (48)
Rd 10-14: sc around (48)
Rd 15: switch to grey, sc around (48)

Finish off leaving long tails for sewing.

For grey ring behind small eye, dc 10 into a magic ring, join and finish off. Poke 18mm eye through the ring, and then attach to the head. Add the 30mm safety eye.

Sew head to head base, start stuffing when you are about half way around and finish stuffing before closing completely. Make sure you don't sew the head to the body! Your head will not turn if you stitch into the body.

Details:

With orange, chain 45, slip stitch to join into a ring, half double crochet in each chain around, join. Make 4.

With orange chain 31, hdc in second chain from hook and back down the chain. Make 1.

With orange, chain 21, hdc in second chain from hook and back down chain. Make 1

Pin circles and semi-circles to BB's body, with the partial circles being the half-hidden circles by the head.Backstitch circles in place.

Orange spikes: With E hook, chain 4, sc into second chain from hook, hdc in next chain and dc in last. Finish off and sew into circle. I needed 20 of these. 4 per complete circle, and 3 for the big partial circle and 1 for the little circle.

Stitch orange details on BB's head, using two strands of orange yarn. Leave a gap over the big eye.

Stitch the eye outlines with black yarn.

Stitch the grey section segments on the body with light grey yarn.

Grey patches: Using E hook: For rectangle shapes chain the length you desire, and sc back down the chain. For circles, make a MR and make 8 hdc into the ring. Make sure your segments fit into the spaces between the orange spikes. Sew on details as desired. I googled BB-8 and was able to find diagrams of each section, if you want them to be exactly right. You could also cut the shapes out of grey felt and sew or glue them on.

Cut a pipe cleaner into two, with one a little longer than the other. Bend down ends, and poke into BB-8's head. I ended up removing them later, as my kids all kept hugging him and I was afraid he would poke their eyes out.

With a three year old, for scale!