Monday, January 4, 2016

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!












28 comments:

  1. Where did you find the 5"wood disc joint? I have searched etsy and Google is coming up short. Are they called something specific? I was just googling 5"wood disc joint. I love this pattern I can't wait to make it!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The closest I was able to find online are 120mm doll joints! They are on Etsy. I happened to have some in my closet and didn't realize they would be hard to find!

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  2. Very cute! I'll share on my fb page!
    https://www.facebook.com/AimeeCunninghamPhotography/

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  3. where did you put the recordable voice box, and can you remove it to change batteries?

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    Replies
    1. I positioned it in the middle of the belly under one of the orange rings (really, put the orange ring around the button so you can find it.) The only way to get to it again would be to open up the bottom of your BB-8, unless you want to engineer a pocket with velcro. :)

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  4. hailstones! If I manage to finish this I reckon hubby will buy me anything I want! Haha he's totally in love with BB-8 Thankyou! Thank you!

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  5. Thank You! I'll be making this for my son for his 8th Birthday coming up in May. His Birthday is May 3rd and he's chosen to have a Star Wars/BB-8 party.

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  6. This is so cute! I want to make it for my Star Wars obsessed 3 year old.

    Did you have any trouble doubling the yarn with a G hook? In the pictures I can only see one strand of yarn (but it's hard to tell). I'm finding the g hook can't even grip two strands of worsted. I upped to a 5mm hook and it's still very tight for the first couple rounds. Am I missing something?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmm, I don't have any trouble using two strands with a G or H hook. I use metal Boye hooks. The Lion Brand Pound of Love yarn is a little thinner than some other brands of white worsted yarn though.

      If you go to an H hook it should work up just fine, but your finished BB-8 will be even bigger. :)

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. I'm using Super Saver from my stash. It's pretty thick so that could be the problem. Thank you!

      It's my first double stranded project so I wasn't sure what to expect.

      I'll try larger hooks. I'm sure my kids won't mind a larger BB-8.

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  7. How generous of you for sharing this life size BB-8 pattern for FREE!
    I'm so excited....can't wait to begin. I hope my skills will allow me to finish him!

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  8. Thank you so much for this wonderful pattern! I say that I'm making this BB-8 for my daughter, but since she's 3 and does not quite understand the joys of Star Wars, I think it's safe to say that I'm really making it for myself. : )

    I also wanted to share that I found 4.75" hardboard doll joints as well as the proper size safety eyes (had a devil of a time finding the 30mm ones in small enough quantities) at www.crscraft.com.

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  9. Hi. First thanks for the pattern!!!!

    I'm making my own doll joint with the CDs, but I have no idea in what order they go. Right now I have threaded onto the wire is the button, first cd, body of bb8, then base of the head, then 2nd cd. Is that rights? Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. Yes! Then all you have to do is bend the wires over to secure the head base to the body. :)

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  10. Ok thank you so much!!! I just ordered the safety eyes and can't wait to finish :)

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  11. Hello! My friend sent me the link to this with a "you know my birthday is coming up..." lol. I was just wondering what the yardage was for the white. Thank you so much for this pattern! She's going to love it.

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    Replies
    1. I can get two BB-8s out of one "pound of love" skein. :)

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  12. Hi there!
    I used the G hook, the right yarn (pound of love) and I completed round 8 but have no idea why I my "disc" is only 3.25" wide. Is my tension too much? Thanks for this great pattern!!

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    Replies
    1. That could be! If it doesn't cover your joint disk, you can continue the pattern for more rows. (as in scx7, inc, etc) But you will need to add a corresponding number of increases to the head. :)

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  13. Can't wait to try your pattern☺️

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  14. Love this...thank you very much for sharing!

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  15. Thank you so much for this pattern! I made it for my newly 11-year-old for her birthday and she absolutely loved it! Your pattern was so well written and easy to follow. I've shared it around too! :)

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  16. Love it and thank you for sharing. I will be making this for my daughter.❤ I just have a question, is there an easy print button? I would like to print if possible.😊

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  17. row 30 is missing on the boddy is it the same as previous or next, or is it a typo?

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  18. merci pour votre tutoriel . je vais pouvoir faire plaisir a mon neveu

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  19. Hi, First of all, I LOVE your pattern! I am thankful there are people like you in the world who can create patterns!! :-) I can't wait to make this for Christmas for my 4-year-old grandson, who was BB-8 for Halloween and loves him! My question is, in the directions for the body, is there supposed to be a "Row 30"? Or are there only 31, not 32, total rows for the body? Thanks for your help and have a very merry Christmas!!

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