Main Suit

   
   

The following information has been taken from the Chewbacca Costuming Resources site:-

  1. Most of Chewie's hair is a medium to light brown color with dark gray sections at the knees, thighs, shoulders and upper chest, and on the back of his head. The dark gray hair goes all the way across his back, but is divided in the middle of his chest by a strip of brown that goes all the way up to the neck line. The hair on his knees only covers the outside half of his legs, not the insides.
  2. According to his own website, actor Peter Mayhew is 7 foot, 3 inches (2.21 meters) tall.
  3. According to an interview with Stuart Freeborn in Star Wars Insider Issue #70 (pages 40 through 44), the Chewie costume included 4 inch (10.16 centimeters) lifts and the mask's forehead added another 4 inches (10.16 centimeters) in height, making Chewbacca roughly 8 feet (2.44 meters) tall.
  4. According to the Chewbacca Behind the Scenes entry on the Official Site's DataBank, the suit was "made of knitted mohair and yak hair."
  5. According to an interview with Fred Fehrmann of National Fiber Technology, the original suit "was hand tied, meaning someone took tiny lace fibers and hand-threaded them into thousands of holes."
  6. National Fiber Technology is said to have supplied Chewbacca's hair for Star Wars. In October of 2001 I e-mailed John Moot of National Fiber Technology. Mr. Moot has since retired, but he claimed that his company supplied 30 square feet of brown fur for and 20 square feet of Grey for 'Star Wars.' He did not say when this hair was ordered or what kind of product it was. According to an interview with Fred Fehrmann of National Fiber Technology, "the original Chewbacca from Lucas' first "Star Wars" film was not made by National Fiber."
  7. In May of 2005 I contacted National Fiber Technology again and got some information from Fred Fehrmann. Fred told me that the date, or even the year, that Lucasfilm ordered their hair was confidential. The type and color of hair that they ordered is also confidential.
  8. Fred Fehrmann at National Fiber Technology did say that they had supplied hair for Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and the Chewbacca costume made for Disney Star Wars Weekends. However the details of those orders, including the type of hair, the color, and the amount, is confidential.
  9. According to National Fiber Technology's website, they supply both natural and synthetic hair including Yak hair and mohair.
  10. According to Fred Ferhmann of National Fiber Technology, National Fiber Technology, LLC was incorporated in 2001. It's predecessors, National Fiber Technology, LTD. and National Hair Technology started in 1979. The predecessor to those companies was the Reid Meredith Wig Company, which started in the 1950's.
  11. In June of 2006 I (Matt Pfingsten) was present at the Science of Star Wars exhibit in Colombus, Ohio and again when it was in Portland in January, 2007. At both events I had a close look at the Chewie suit (original trilogy) and could see some visible knots on the arms where the hair had thinned slightly.
  12. Some members of The RPF claim that National Fiber Technology's synthetic products were used for Chewie's original trilogy suits. This not true, given the above facts.
  13. According to the Chewbacca Behind the Scenes entry on the Official Site's DataBank, "Numerous versions of the suit were made to handle the wear and tear of film making."
  14. According to the Behind the Scenes page at Wookiee Net, two suits were made for the Trilogy. One was made for A New Hope and was maintained and repaired for that film and The Empire Strikes Back. An entirely new suit was made for Return of the Jedi. According to a TheForce.Net Interview with Peter Mayhew, Mayhew used his stunt double for the first and only time in Return of the Jedi when the skiff he is on gets hit and tilts violently. It is likely that a stunt suit was created for this purpose.
  15. According to the Behind the Scenes page at Wookiee Net, there was an under suit that had foam padding on the shoulders.
  16. At DragonCon 2003, Peter Mayhew, having just returned from filming Episode 3, explained that they had made 4 suits for him in Revenge of the Sith.
  17. According to an interview with Fred Fehrmann of National Fiber Technology, for Revenge of the Sith his company provided Lucasfilm with 6 different types of Wookiee hair at an average of 70 to 80 square feet of hair fabric to make each suit. They supplied a total of 1,000 square feet of Wookiee hair. It took them 5 months to make all of that hair.

National Fiber Technology can make great synthetic hair. As far as how much hair you need I have heard conflicting answers. John Moot of National Fiber Technology, who has since retired, says 30 yards of brown and 20 of Grey and I've heard as high as 100 yards are necessary. Have a seamstress pattern this out and get accurate measurements based on a 36 inch (94.44 centimeters) wide fabric. If you have to reorder you must pay $225.00 for a machine setup fee. Both colors are $33.25 per yard. In the end it will cost around $2500 for the hair from this source.

Two fan-made Chewie's have used hair from National Fiber Technology, and both have noted that the "brown" hair appears to be too orange to match Chewie's hair color in either the Original Trilogy or Episode III. However, the hair that National Fiber Technology supplied for Episode III is an excellent match to the original trilogy suit. National Fiber Technology cannot disclose the details of the orders that Lucasfilm made. Perhaps if someone can get in touch with the Elsey's who built the Wookiees for Episode III, we might know more. You should look over their products to get the correct color rather than just ordering "brown."

The advantages to this method are that the hair is of extremely high quality, and requires far less work to make a suit from this material than the other methods. The downside is that it is very expensive and the "brown" hair offered is too red, but you can probably order a custom color.

The fur used for this suit is that supplied by National Fiber Technology. I have used brown code CF8836XL (30 sq ft) and gray code CF8837XL (20 sq ft)

Having progressed with the suit construction another couple of sq ft of brown would have been very usefull

   
With the muscle suit placed back on the mannequin a paper template was made and the fur cut out and sewn into a pair of trousers. I faced a decision here, either I could make normal proportion legs and have a "step" in the leg where it flairs out at the stilts or have wide legs. Since the suit will be mainly viewed and photographed from the front I took the later option. Whilst it might look a little strange from the side view I hope the front on view will be much more convincing.
   
  • In order to make life a bit easier to get the trousers over the stilts the inner seam of the lower half of the leg is velcroed.
 
 
   
 
  • To big and bushy at the moment. Mind you the fur is always very bushy untill its had a good brush!
 
 
   
 
  • Onto the Jacket but its all still too "fluffy"
 
 
   
 
  • After 3 hours of brushing to remove some of the excess fur I was left with this pile of waste fur!
  
         
  • The fur thickness is now much better but he looks like he just got back from the salon!! Needs to matt back up again