Toy Story Costume: Jessie

For the second year in a row, we decided to dress up as a group for Halloween. Since Nate wanted to be Buzz Lightyear, that made it easy: I would be Jessie and Evan would be Woody.  Here's how I made my Jessie costume:

The Cowgirl Shirt

After striking out at three different thrift stores, I buckled and bought a white button-down shirt at Old Navy for $24. I bought yellow felt, red acrylic yarn (yick! but cheap!), and red ribbon at the fabric store. Because my shirt opens, I had to make two separate pieces - slightly different from the "real Jessie." To make sure everything lined up properly, I created two pattern pieces using regular ole tissue paper.

Between the existing yolk and placket of the Old Navy shirt and all of the curved lines of my planned embellishments, I didn't even consider sewing this! I used a goodly amount of fabric glue on each piece, being careful to follow the directions on the bottle. The glue dried clear.

The Yarn Wig

This project was easier than I thought it would be. To begin, I did a little online research (check out the cute pigtail version they made over at Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy). Then I gathered up red yarn, red felt, and my sewing machine and got started!

I had trouble with what I thought would be the easiest part: measuring out the yarn! I wanted my wig to be long enough for a decent side braid - and almost immediately it became tangled up in my hands as I unwound the skein. I solved the problem by using the legs of my dining room table instead. Rolling that much yarn back and forth and back and forth hurt my old back (and drove my dog bananas!) - but it worked like a champion! Win!



I used red felt as the base onto which the yarn would be sewn. To determine the length, I measured from my hairline to the nape of my neck. The 14in I needed was longer than my felt, so I had to sew two pieces together to get the desired size. I also cut my base about 2.5in wide. )You'll see some people online using really thin strips of felt for this, but that made me nervous. I don't want this falling apart while I Trick-or-Treat!) After cutting the ends, I laid the yarn out, found the center, and pinned the top felt to the bottom, sandwiching the yarn and creating the "part." I sewed the widest zig-zag stitch my machine produces down the center of the felt, slowly removing the top piece as I went along. I'll admit that the machine jammed up twice AND that it was a pain to fix. Otherwise, this was a straightforward part of the costume.

Chaps and Accessories

I cheated on the chaps, so I didn't even take pictures. I literally laid the fabric along each leg of an old pair of jeans and cut to match. Then I safety-pinned each "chap" to the jeans from the inside.

The cuffs, belt, yellow hair bow, and hat were all part of a Jessie Accessory Kit.