How to Make a Star Wars Jabba the Hutt Body Pillow
Jabba the Hutt, huggable? Surprisingly, yes. Celebrate the anniversary of Star Wars by making this cuddly Jabba body pillow.
This Jabba the Hutt body pillow is comfy and easy to make.
Editors' note: As part of our celebration of Star Wars at 40, CNET contributor Bonnie Burton, a Star Wars superfan and former Lucasfilm employee, shows you to make a pillow unlike any other.
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Sometimes you just want to nap on an extra-large body pillow in the shape of Jabba the Hutt. Good news: You don't even have to wear an uncomfortable Slave Leia costume to do it. Here's an easy tutorial from my book, The Star Wars Craft Book, that shows how to turn old pillows into something geeky.
What you need
- A large green fleece blanket
- Beige fleece fabric or a beige sweatshirt
- Beige, black and orange felt (or fleece)
- Old pillows (three regular, two small, one large body pillow)
- String or white ribbon
- Extra pillow stuffing
- Sewing needle
- Thread (green, black, beige, orange)
- Straight pins
- Scissors
How to make a Jabba the Hutt body pillow
1. Stack up the pillows until they resemble Jabba the Hutt's basic slug-body shape. Put the body pillow on the bottom, the regular-size pillows in the middle and one of the small pillows on top.
2. Wrap the pillows together with string or white ribbon. Sew the pillow sides together so they stay in place. Sew the other small pillow to the end of the body pillow to elongate the tail.
3. Drape the green fleece blanket over the pillows until you're happy with how it looks. This is the part you should take your time with, but it doesn't have to be perfect. Folds in the fabric can also look like Jabba's body wrinkles, so don't pull the fabric too taunt. Tuck any extra fabric underneath.
4. Add extra pillow stuffing inside the tail area to give it more shape and fill in other gaps. Keep the fleece fabric in place with straight pins. Sew together.
5. Cut out a smaller slug-like shape from your beige fleece fabric. You can also use an old beige sweatshirt. This will be Jabba's face and inner-body skin color. Keep fabric in place with straight pins, then sew. Fleece is a great fabric to work with if you want to hide stitches.
6. Use felt for the facial features or fleece if you want it to be more durable. Cut two large circles of beige felt, and then cut circles in half. These will be the top and bottom eyelids. Cut two smaller orange circles for the eyes. Cut two black almond shapes for the eye pupils.
7. Cut two black comma shapes for the nose holes, and a large black strip for the mouth. Feel free to experiment with different facial features if you want your Jabba pillow to look happy or more menacing. Keep facial features in place with straight pins, then sew. Be sure to match the color of the thread with the color of your fabric.
8. If you prefer to keep embellishing your Jabba the Hutt body pillow, make arms from the extra fleece material, or sew an arm design using embroidery thread.
If you need more help making this Jabba the Hutt body pillow, check out this funny video tutorial from YouTuber Jennifer Landa, who goes step-by-step through how to make the pillow from The Star Wars Craft Book.
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