Chewbacca shirt

Well, the Star Wars love isn’t going away any time soon.  In fact the Force is only getting stronger.   Owen pulls out his Jedi robe daily (because one must look like a Jedi to jump and feel like a Jedi on the trampoline).

So I’ve had a series of Star Wars shirts in-mind to share for Celebrate the BOY.  And I started with Chewbacca, beloved Wookie and best side-kick ever?  Totally!

For a little inspiration I Google imaged “Chewbacca art” and many cool images popped up:

Then I peeked at a project I pinned a year ago by Draw Pilgrim…a sweet Chewie softie toy (free pattern download).  Isn’t he delightful?!  And THEN I was overjoyed when I looked in the CTB Flickr group last night….and Laura from Behind the Hedgegrow had made her own version! with super furry cool fabric.
Wookie is in the air.
So I channeled the love and came up with my own version.  The Chewie Shirt:

And I totally love it!  It’s weird, soft, and the best part is….Owen really, really loves it too.  Kid endorsement is the best compliment.

I originally wanted to use crazy fur like Laura did above.  But I worried that on a shirt, it might not wear or wash well so I went with a super soft terry-cloth minky from Joann Fabrics….the same type of fabric used for Owen’s House Robe the other day:

Then I grabbed felt scraps and got busy:


You’re basically sewing the Chewie head like a softie toy but without the stuffing.  I used simple cotton fabric for the back of the head so he wouldn’t be too poofy on the shirt.  And if you were making it with knit fabric you could leave the edges raw without a backing.  But this fabric frays like crazy, so I needed to seal all the edges of his head.  So….

Be careful as you sew that you’re ONLY sewing Chewie to the front of the shirt!  Just work slowly and pull the back of the shirt away as you go. And you’re done!


The shirt timing was perfect for pajama day at school on Thursday, since he of course wanted to wear his Star Wars pjs (rather than the Big Stick jammies).

So we threw on the Chewbacca shirt, Star Wars Jammie pants, I couldn’t resist this favorite pair of Star Wars undies,

and when he put on his backpack I just started laughing.  It honestly never dawned on me that the jammies and backpack were the same fabric!…which is funny since the fabric is from Joanns and the backpack is Old Navy.

Just like that he was totally geeked out.
With, yes, his lightsaber in his backpack for a playdate after school.

Have a great weekend!  Come back on Monday for one more Celebrate the BOY prjoect.
And go see what Rae’s up to today…
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This is part of Celebrate the BOY, a series hosted by me and Made by Rae.

Here’s what we’ve done so far:
DAY 1: Dana: 5 Steps to the Basic Tee • Rae: Saffron Pants and Color Roundup
DAY 2: Dana: Pants Roundup • Rae: Little Bit of Color Hoodie
DAY 3: Dana: KID Pants with Back Pockets • Rae: Little Bit of Color Hoodie
DAY 4: Dana: 13 DIY Fabrics • Rae: Show your Stripes Turtleneck
DAY 5: Dana: Favorite T-shirt Buddies • Rae: Stripes Rule Roundup and Celebration Garland
DAY 6: Dana: Big Stick Pjs • Rae: Fox Tee
DAY 7: Dana: Beach Robe to Cozy House RobeYES to Bold Prints and Tuxedo Stripe Pants
DAY 8: Dana: We be Jammin roundup • Rae: City Pants
DAY 9: Dana: Stripes, Checks, and Piping, oh my • Rae: Mustache roundup and Tic Tac Toe Shirt + Piping how-to

• Keep adding your own BOY projects to the CTB Flickr Group!
• And check out the Archives for additional projects

  1. 1) Spencer

    Will you adopt me?

  2. haha…that is funny that the fabric was the same. Owen is so handsome. Love that you made him a Chewbaca shirt!

  3. 3) carolina

    Awesome!! Love the first comment.

  4. 4) Meg W

    Oh my, I LOVE the Chewie shirt. My boy is a stars wars man himself too. He’s been after a pillow pet for awhile and the darn things are kind of ugly (at least the ones we’ve seen in the stores). So I made him a jawa pillow pet. He loves it. I may have to modify your idea and try to make an R2 D2 or Yoda shirt. I love that Owen has a favorite pair of star wars undies! My son loves the ones with “the good guys on it” which means anything with Luke, R2D2 and C3PO! I love the Celebrate the Boy series and the pictures in the Flickr group are awesome!

  5. LOVE this so much. Especially the full outfit, hee!!

    🙂

  6. Too cute. I love the photo of Owen doing the Bill Cosby dance.

  7. That is one super cool dude! He would totally fit in at my house.

  8. I showed this to my son (to show him his Chewwie amongst friends). His immediate response was, ‘if he (owne) is meant to be Chewwie (because of the shirt), why does he have Mace Windu’s lightsaber?’….totally little boy geek-fest!! Gotta love it!

  9. i died laughing straight from the blog post title. I showed my Owen and he immediately said that he wanted one! My 3 boys too somersault, leap, and fight with their Jedi Robes:) Star Wars is here to stay for sure with 3 new movies being made. Love it!!

  10. 10) sarah heat

    Why is there a head front and back? Maybe you should leave the sides of the head open instead to create an interesting pocket?

  11. I love this! I’m afraid to show Oscar, because he would immediately make me a list of characters to put on a shirt. 🙂 He does have some star wars jammie pants though (different fabric), so a shirt might be in order.

  12. I think my boys would super love this. It looks great with the pj bottoms!

  13. Oh, my boys are obsessed with star wars and one of them with Chewie especially. I can’t wait to make the shirts for them! Thanks!

  14. This just makes me so happy! Thankfully Oliver needs some new shirts because I am totally making him one of these!! Is it weird that I’m the Star Wars nerd in our family? 🙂

  15. My daughter loves Star Wars! Her birthday is next week; she would love this! I’ll have to girl it up a bit, but I have to do that a lot with her favorite themed things.

  16. 16) Nicole

    That is one good looking kid!

  17. My son Cooper (3) loves Star Wars just as much as Owen– it’s all he talks about, all day. Lightsabers and Obi Wan and Darth Vader and the Death Star and pume-pumes. So I am really pyched to see your Chewie shirt, and the link to the stuffie pattern. Thank you for being so awesome!

  18. 19) Judit

    this is the best outfit ever!!!
    I’d wear it everyday … if not by the fact that in everybody’s opinion, I’m 39. My inner child is screaming for the right to own it right now!
    May the force be with you Owen!

  19. This is awesome. He makes a cute little Star Wars fan! I love that his pants match his backpack, too. 🙂

  20. Fabulous Chewie shirt! And it looks so great with those jammies. Such a score!

  21. I love the whole Star Wars outfit. Very cool! I also wanted to say that Owen looks like a real Jedi in his Jedi robe. 🙂

  22. Our new puppy is called Wookiee and he really does look like Chewy! Love the pants x

  23. always hoped that my son would like star wars. now that he does, I am always so happy to see cool diy star wars projects- especially all of the chewbacca inspiration! love the tee for owen- he is too cute! 🙂

  24. Awesome!! I love that Star Wars fabric – I even made my husband a pair of jammie pants with it!!

  25. Oh Dana, how I love this so! That shirt is totally rad…and not only do I want to make one for Noah but I also kinda want to make one for me. I always love what you come up with…you’re such a rockstar!

  26. How gorgeous is your son! My 21 year old is a bit too old for this T-shirt but I’m sure he would’ve loved it when he was younger!

  27. 29) hennahands

    As soon as my son saw this post, we made an impromptu trip to the fabric store for some Star Wars fabric. We already own the one you used for PJs so we bought another (that looks like blue prints for the death star). Now I must make PJ pants STAT! THanks for making my son excited about new cloths. 🙂

  28. My son totally loves everything on this post. I don’t have the space to do it right now, but I will definitely be putting it in my memory banks for future sewing for him! Thanks for the great ideas.

  29. i’m such a star wars nerd myself, love that we can enjoy it with our kids too.

  30. 32) Laurel

    Love this idea! I just made my own version for my little boy for an upcoming Disney trip. He has three sisters who are all getting princessed out, he chose to go with Star Wars. I made him some Star Wars shorts to wear too using your tutes!

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