Polish The Stars: DIY Totoro Hoodie

Over the weekend my best friend came to visit and I helped her out with her Halloween costume: a Totoro hoodie. I had never heard of My Neighbor Totoro before but it looked cute from the pictures that I had seen and I was happy to help out.

Since I didn't have any pattern to go off of this project ended up taking longer than anticipated but through some trial and error I ended up with a finished product that I was pretty happy with.

For the tummy I used white flannel. I like the way that it looks but it doesn't provide much stretch so you will want to make sure that your hoodie isn't too snug to begin with. I tried just tracing the body onto the flannel but I couldn't get the sides even so I came up with this pattern:

Trace this onto the left side of your body then flip it over and trace again onto the right side.

For the sides and bottom just lay the flannel over the hoodie and trace around the sides and bottom. Cut the body out a 1/4" outside of the lines so that you can fold it over and hem it. Turn the white flannel over with the lines facing the hoodie.

For the accents on the body, iron fusible interfacing onto gray flannel that matches the color of your hoodie. Use the pattern above to trace the shapes onto the paper side of the interfacing. That will be the back side of the accents so you will want to flip the pattern over so they end up facing the right direction.

Cut out the shapes and remove the paper backing. If you used an exacto knife to cut out the shapes you can then use the pattern to help you with the position and spacing. Just place the flannel pieces into the matching holes then remove the paper pattern and iron the shapes into place. Sew around the edges with matching gray thread to make sure that they stay in place.

Now you will want to fold the hem of the white flannel under and sew the body onto the hoodie. (I thought that I was just going to iron the accents onto the body and be done with it so I did this step backwards and ended up having to hand stitch the accents into place which took a lot longer than if I had sewn them on before putting the body on the hoodie.)

If you want to be able to use the pocket of the hoodie, cut slits along the edge of the pocket. Then cut strips of white flannel and fold over to make piping which you can then sew onto the edges of the pocket. This is the other part that took FOREVER! The left pocket went great but I had to do the right pocket three times before it would lay right. If you want to greatly simplify this project, just skip the pocket altogether.

Trace the ear pattern onto another piece of the gray flannel. You will need four of these pieces and cut them out 1/4" outside of the lines for your hem. Sew two of the ear pieces together, leaving the bottom edge open, then turn right side out and stuff with fiber fill. Repeat with the other ear. Sew the bottom edge closed.

Cut two slits in the hood where you want your ears to be. Poke the bottom edge of the ear into the slit and sew into place.

For the eyes and nose, iron fusible interfacing onto your flannel and then trace the pattern onto the paper side. Remove the paper, iron into place then sew around the edges.

For the leaf, use fusible interfacing to stick two pieces of green flannel together. Trace the leaf pattern onto one side of the flannel and cut it out. Sew around the edges of the leaf. Place the leaf onto the hood with the tip a bit off center. Sew down the center of the leaf to attach it to the hood. Do not sew the stem down because you want it to stand up in the back.

You're done! Now you can don your Totoro hoodie as a Halloween costume or just as a fun everyday jacket. :)

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting Polish The Stars.