IV, V, beyond great! VI, pretty great.  Then there are I, II and III… well…not my favorite movies, but the prequel trilogy did give us some great moments and characters.  My faves in no particular order:

• Padmé Amidala – we needed more female Star Wars characters,
• Samuel Jackson and his purple lightsaber!
• Yoda kicking some serious butt in the lightsaber fight in Episode II
• Ewan McGregor, whose mischievous smile makes just about anything worth watching.
• The moment when Anakin turns to the dark side.
• …and General Grievous. He. Totally. Rocks!

So  I was quite pleased when our (at the time) 6-year-old daughter (entirely un-prompted, and without even having seen the movie) announced she HAD to be General Grievous for Halloween.  Who needs to be a Disney Princess when you can be a 4-armed evil cyborg that fights Jedis?

So the brainstorming started.  We got so stuck at one point and I actually tried talking her out it.  Nope, Grievous was it!   So I asked some friends for suggestions. The best advice came from M4P friend Gene Ha, who suggested that the extra arms should be attached to the to her real arms with elastic.  It worked beautifully!

    

Needed:

• Body:
  • 2 Black Turtlenecks
  • 2 Pairs Black Knitted Gloves
  • Black Leggings
  • Black Socks
  • Black Shoes
  • Light Grey Felt
  • Red Felt
  • Silver Dimensional Fabric Paint
  • 3″ Thick Foam
  • Quilt Batting
  • Thin Round Black Elastic Cord
  • Black Cord
• Cape:
  • Grey Fabric
  • Dark Red Fabric
  • Black Cord
  • Grey Thread
  • 1/4″ Wide Black Elastic Band
• Misc:
  • General Grievous Mask
  • Glow Stick Lightsabers
  • Elmer’s Glue
  • Glue Gun
  • Needle
  • Safety Pin
  • Old Newspaper
  • Good Scissors

How To:

Body:

1. Cut a red heart and the grey felt to look like GG’s skeleton.
2. Put flat newspaper inside the tights and 1 turtle neck. This should prevent the glue from seeping  through – you don’t want to end up glueing the pants and shirt closed!
3. Glue heart and skeleton in place with Elmer’s. Let dry.
4. Decorate with the silver paint. Let dry!

   

2nd Set of Arms:

1. Cut 2, 3” strips of the foam. Measure the length this way: from the palm of the hand to the opposite shoulder blade. (so the combined length of a palm of the hand + the arm + and the width of the back)   The overlapping of the “arms” on the back will create his hump.
2. Shave the “wrist” ends of the foam so they are thinner, like real wrists.
3. Tie the thick ends of the foam together in back.
4. Cut the bottom off the second turtle neck. (you only need the arms down to about chest area).
5. Insert foam into arms.  There should be a bit of foam sticking out on each arm – these will be the hands.
6. Add thin batting to make the arms about the same thickness as the real arms.
7. Take the hanging middle section of the turtleneck and wrap it around the hump on the back and sew it in place by hand – the whole arm section now be covered in black except for the hands.
8. Take the second pair of gloves and fill them with batting, making it look like there are fingers in there. Try to make it bend a bit (since they will be holding lightsabers).
9. Put a glove on each the foam end, and sew in place. Adjust sleeve so there is no gap.
10. Glue felt skeleton and add silver paint.
11. Take 2 long elastic cords and tie around the hump, so it can be worn like a back back.
12. Then attach 2 long elastic cords on each wrist.  Make a loop on the other end to put the real wrist through.
13. Voila! 4 almost independently moving arms!
14. Get the instructions on how to make the lightsabers here.
15. Take the hilt from each lightsaber, and glue one into the each hand.  Make sure the fingers close.  The glowstick lightsabers are light enough that they will easily will stay in place.

  

Cape:

1. Cut equal sized rectangles in the grey and red fabric.  (It’s always good idea to add some extra length on kids’ costumes, in case they want to use them again when then are older.)
2. Sew fabrics rectangles together face-to-face on 3 sides.
3. Turn right-side-out.
4. Pin and sew a channel at the top for the cord.
5. Using a safety-pin, run the cord through the channel.
6. Hem the bottom to desired length.

Tips:

 

Get Supplies:

• 2 Black Turtlenecks
• 2 Pairs Black Knitted Gloves
• Black Leggings
• Black Socks
• Black Shoes
• Light Grey Felt
• Red Felt
• Silver Dimensional Fabric Paint
• Quilt Batting
• Grey Fabric
• Dark Red Fabric
• Grey Thread
• Thin Round Black Elastic Cord
• 1/4″ Wide Black Elastic BandGeneral Grievous Mask
• Glow Stick Lightsabers
• Elmer’s Glue
• Glue Gun
• Good Scissors