DIY Jessie (Toy Story) Toddler Costume - no sewing!



DIY Jessie from Toy Story Costumes - no sewing involved!




A few weeks ago, during one of my recent trips to Dollar Tree, I picked up a couple of red foam cowboy hats for my girls. They reminded me of Jessie from Toy Story and thought they would be fun for playing dress-up. Well, sure enough, my girls decided that they BOTH wanted to be Jessie for Halloween. Given how cheap frugal I am, I knew I wanted to try to make the costumes - especially since I needed to do 2 of them. In case you aren't familiar with Jessie, here is my model and her crew...



Via fanpop.com

 So I tackled the hat first...

Dollar Tree hat and ribbon from Michaels

I used my mini hole puncher to make holes around the rim of the hat about an inch apart from each other. Then I strung through some string-like ribbon I bought at Michaels (half-price sale, baby!!).

Holy cow, that's alot of holes!

All strung up!

Next I took some plain white ribbon (from the dollar bin at Michaels!) and secured it around the hat with my glue gun in one long piece. This didn't work quite as well as I had hoped due to the width of the ribbon and the slope of the hat. So the first strip I glued around was all wrinkly and gross looking. So then I cut smaller strips of ribbon and glued them around one at a time. This worked better and helped cover up some of the mess from the first attempt. It isn't perfect but good enough for a 3 year old! Lastly I added some more of the string-like ribbon to act as a tie around the neck since the hat is kind of loose. (not seen in this pic)

Ta-Daa!

Not too bad if I do say so myself! Total came to about $3 for the hat plus the amount of ribbon I used up.

For the shirt I had to improvise since neither of my girls have a long-sleeved button-down collared shirt and I certainly wasn't going to invest in one just for this costume. Thankfully, at Target, I found short-sleeved polo shirts that were on clearance (only $4!) since they were intended to be for a school uniform. I didn't let the short sleeves deter me since I knew I could layer it over a long-sleeved (non-collared) white shirt.

$4 on clearance at Target

I purchased a sheet of yellow self-stick felt at AC Moore ($0.79) and cut it to form the bodice of the shirt and stuck it on. Then I took some red sparkly rope-like ribbon (1/2 price at Michaels so less than $2 for the whole spool) and hot glued it to the bodice, copying the design of the "real" Jessie. :)

Bodice added

Next, I cut a sheet of yellow felt in half ($0.29 at AC Moore) and shaped it to form the wristlets. I attached a piece of self-stick velcro (left over from another project) to one edge so it could easily be wrapped around my daughter's wrist without having to be a permanent addition to the shirt. I added a little more red ribbon and some white felt fringe with my hot glue gun.

A strip of self-stick velcro will keep the cuffs closed around their wrists

Hot glued on some details

Then I tackled the pants. I purchased some cow print fabric at Joann's (on sale for 60% off!) and cut it the size of the front of the pant legs, shaping it like a pair of chaps. Since I didn't want to damage the jeans, I simply pinned the fabric on using safety pins.

Time for chaps!

Lastly, I made a simple belt out of some black felt (extra from a future project - stay tuned!) and a piece of self-stick sparkle foam ($0.99 for a sheet at AC Moore). I cut an oval out of the foam and stuck it to a piece of really thick cardstock (I think it was actually that cardboard stuff that new sheets/curtains are wrapped around). And then I used a piece of the self-stick velcro to "close" the belt.

Felt, glittery foam and velcro make a belt

And here is the finished product all together! (imagine a long-sleeved white shirt underneath). Oh and you'll have to wait until after Halloween for a picture of the girls modeling them - I'm not going to risk something being spilled on those white shirts! We're talking toddlers here!! LOL





TA-DAAA! A DIY Jessie from Toy Story Costume (well, close enough!)

  

Not bad for less than $10 each! And the bonus is that the felt can be peeled off the shirts after Halloween and can be used as regular clothing so if I take that element out of my cost, you're talking around $5 each! Not too shabby!

**EDIT** OK, here are the girls on Halloween... 






SweetPea and Boogey as Jessie from Toy Story
Halloween 2010

    Not bad for about $5 (each) out of pocket!! And they loved them and had a blast trick or treating! And THAT is worth a million! :)

Linking this project up to the CSI Project's DIY Halloween Costumes Challenge

Mommas Kinda Crafty
Fingerprints on the Fridge