Young House Love

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Homemade Jesse & Slinky Dog Costumes From Toy Story

Dude, I did it! I semi-DIYed my very first Halloween costumes, and I lived to tell the tale. It actually wasn’t too hard (do you believe that I didn’t sew a single thing?). Holla!

Halloween 1 Greeting

In case it’s not super obvious, Clara asked to go as Jessie (the cowgirl from Toy Story) and Burger gets to be Slinky Dog (also from Toy Story). Here were most of my supplies for Clara’s costume:

  • a “cowgirl hat” from a local pop-up Halloween store
  • red yarn and white duct tape from AC Moore
  • flared jeans from Old Navy (you know I used a coupon and bought them on discount Tuesdays)

Halloween 2 Materials

The first thing I tackled was making a long Jessie-ish braid from the yarn and used the white duct tape to connect it to the hat. Looks pretty bad from the inside, but thankfully it’s all covered up when Clara puts it on, and it doesn’t seem to bother her (she loves her Jessie hair, and it actually seems to help make the slightly-too-big hat fit her a bit better – even though it still slides around a little).

Halloween 3 Braid Taped

Oh and she needed winter shoes/boots, so I found these cowgirl-ish boots at Old Navy on sale, so they’ll not only serve as shoes for the costume but she’ll hopefully get lots of wear out of them this winter. I also picked up an on-sale white button down (in the boy’s section) that she can wear well beyond this costume. And speaking of wearing-beyond-the-costume, see the jeans? I cow-patterned them up with white duct tape that I cut into different cow-spot-ish shapes. So it’s 100% removable so the jeans, the shirt, and the boots can just be worn normally after Halloween until Clara outgrows them.

Halloween 4 Costume Done

As for slinky dog’s costume, I just got a quarter yard of brown felt from JoAnn (on sale for 50 cents), cut it into a small strip that wraps around Burger’s tummy, and used velcro at each side of the strip to secure it under his ribcage. Then for the “slinky” we just got two yards of silver trim (from the aisle with all the fringe and beaded trim that you buy by the yard at JoAnn). I didn’t even sew the slinky trim onto the felt since I secured it with safety pins on the outside of the costume under his belly (so they’re not against Burger’s skin, they’re on the outside of the felt sleeve). I intended to stitch it after pinning it just to see how it looked, but it seems to work as-is. Burger doesn’t exactly love Halloween costumes – he wiggles out of them in about 5.5 seconds – so I figured it wasn’t worth breaking out a needle.

Halloween 5 Burger Up Close

Oh man, and my favorite detail is the gold fringe that I added to the bottom of Clara’s flared jeans. She LOVES it (“look how they shake mommy!”) and I’m so excited that it was only $1 worth of trim from JoAnn which I safety pinned in place (so once again, it can be removed and Clara can wear these jeans for the rest of the year). Although she loves them so much, we might de-cow-spot them and leave the fringe on for a little while… just because she gets such a kick out of it.

Halloween 6 Clara Fringe Feet

Here’s Clara’s Jessie hair from the back. Isn’t that long braid adorable? Oh man, I think my brain will explode when she actually has hair I can braid. Squuuueeeee!

Halloween 7 Clara Back

Oh and the belt! I made that with another trim thing I found at JoAnn (it was woven leather-looking trim that was the perfect width for her pants). I secured it with a round plastic pin/button (you know, the ones people wear on their lapel that say “vote for me for student council”) but it was a clear fillable plastic button, so I opened it and put yellow construction paper in it with a star in front of it that I cut from leftover brown slinky dog felt. Since it has a safety pin on the back of it, it holds the woven trim together like a belt, so for around $4 I made her that little cowgirl accessory.

Halloween 8 Clara Smiling

Weirdly enough, Clara’s favorite Jessie activity so far has been sliding her legs out on the floor like this in her boots (and occasionally hurting Woody, if he’s nearby). She’s got the moves like Jagger.

Halloween 9 Stepping On Woody

What sort of costumes are you guys DIYing this year? Anyone else using odd things like white duct tape when it comes to your costume? Or are you happy to buy something cute off the rack if it grabs you? I gotta admit we did that last year…

Costumes Sucking Thumb

… and the year before…

Halloween Costumes

… and it was tons of fun too. Hope you guys all have a safe and happy Halloween!!! And I’d love to hear (and see!) what your kiddos are going to be this year. And any grown ups in costume = awesomeville. Links, links, y’all!

Comments

  2. Kay says

    To quote my relatives from Minnesota, Oh Fer Cute! I love these ideas–as someone who sews, I’m so impressed that you pulled all of this off! Hope Clara and Burger (and their lovely parents!) have a very happy Halloween!

    Reply

  3. Emily @ LaForce Be With You says

    That is such a great costume and I love how it can be used later! Last year my husband and I went as Woody and Jessie but I had some help from my mom with those because my sewing is not that advanced. http://www.laforcebewithyou.com/2011/10/happy-halloween.html

    This year we went as Sheldon and Amy from Big Bang Theory and gathered our costumes from sales and what we already owned for the most part.

    Guess you can see we love couples costumes!

    Reply

  4. Jessica says

    Too cute! And I totally recognized her as Jessie before reading down that far. :) Our little one was a cow girl last year but we just bought a pre-packaged costume and she wore some Ugg-style pink boots she already had (Target clearance bargain I couldn’t resist). This year she wanted to be Princess Aurora and not two days after she told me that my mom came over with a crown and wand that were brand new with tags from the Disney Store – she happened to be in a thrift store when they were unloading some Disney Store donations and scored them for $1 each! That sealed the deal for me. I didn’t mind paying a bit extra for her princess dress because it’s going in her dress up collection after Halloween (and I predict she’ll be wearing it almost daily for a while)

    Reply

  5. GreenInOC says

    If Clara’s hat is sliding around too much, you can add window insulation strips inside as needed. Advice from someone with a freakishly small head!!

    Her costume is adorable but the icing on the cake is that she adores herself in it!!

    Was yesterday’s post title inspired by SNL’s **** in a Box?!

    Can you believe it, less that 5.5 days….

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, that’s a great tip about window strips! As for yesterday’s post, let’s say it was a subtle nod for those in the know without scandalizing my mom with any embedded videos. Haha. And ahhhhhhhhhh about 5.5 days. So crazy.

      xo
      s

  7. Lauren Nicole says

    Just got an email that Amazon is shipping your book earlier than expected! Woohoo! Expected arrival is currently Nov. 6!

    Reply

  8. Maggie says

    So CUTE! We went to a (spooky) housewarming on Saturday and my guy and I dressed up as Fred and Wilma Flintstone (we’ve had the costumes for years and bust them out once in a while). But tonight I’m having a friend over and baking pumpkin pie – we don’t get trick or treaters really in our apartment building.

    Reply

  9. Meagan {Green Motherhood} says

    She is just too sweet. Love these pictures. Go Sherry!

    Isla June could not decide what she wanted to be this year, so I picked up a few different costumes, she just decided, last night, to wear bits and pieces of all of them. So she will, unofficially, be a “Super trooper daisy Fairy”. And yes, I will be taking pictures.

    Reply

  12. Rebecca says

    First time commenting – I love your blog and have been reading it everyday since we lost our home in a tornado last year… Your blog gives me inspiration to use for our new house that I’m enjoying attempting to decorate.

    I LOVE Clara’s costume! DIY costumes are my fav! My 2 yr old son is going as Mickey this year and I had so much fun putting the costume together!

    Reply

  14. katherine says

    That looks fantastic! Great job. I/ my mom always made my Halloween costumes after I outgrew the store-bought pumpkin costume I wore from baby to about 4 years old. I think homemade costumes have a lot more charm- instead of looking exactly like the thing you’re imitating, it gives the idea, and they look much less mass produced and cheap. Great job!

    Reply

  15. Mer @mersworld says

    Love, love, love the costumes! Great job and great tips! We are heading out of town this year, so the human costumes are on hold, but I did share my favorite dog costume on my blog this morning! http://www.mersworld.com

    We have a three-legged greyhound, who loves wearing jackets/sweaters, etc. and who always has fun dressing as a peg-leg pirate! Now if only that enthusiasm translated into listening, sitting and not digging in the yard!

    Happy Halloween!

    Reply

  16. Kelsey S. says

    I was so excited to have a kiddo to dress up this year (he’s almost 3 months old!) that I went all-out DIYing his costume. The Baby Captain America costume started with a white, long sleeve body suit with red stripes sewn on from an old t-shirt. The blue part of the top is a bodysuit that I cropped, hemmed, and embellished with a felt star. The cap and mittens are hand sewn, also from old shirts. The “A” and wings on the cap are felt with decorative stitching (wish you could see those better in the photo!). The shield is made from layers of felt hot-glued together with a stiff felt core to give it shape. It was a lot of work to sew everything by hand since my machine needs a tune-up, but the end result was totally worth it!

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/kspickes/8142413789/

    Reply

  17. Meredith Jones says

    Um. This is outofCONTROLfreakinadorable! Great job! It’s our first year in our own house, and I CAN’T EVEN WAIT for the adorable kids to come around tonight. can’t even wait. :)

    Reply

  18. Nicole @ Wonderful Joy Ahead says

    I was 90% done with my daughter’s owl costume last year when I realized that we were going to be in a hotel for Halloween (i.e. no trick or treating). I was using a plain onesie for the body of it and made the feathers on a big piece of felt that I safety-pinned onto it so that I could easily take it off and put on a larger onesie for this year (since she didn’t really get to wear it last year, except for a few photos). As it happens, she can fit into the same onesie this year so no alterations needed. Woop! Most was done with fabric glue and safety pins with a little needle/thread action to sew loops for attaching the wings to the wrist and back of shirt.

    Here are photos from last year: http://www.wonderfuljoyahead.com/2011/12/le-hoot-hoot.html

    Reply

  19. ani says

    Love the costume! My little cousin was Jessie for halloween last year and she wore the plastic/poly costume from the store… this one is 10000 times better!!!! Awesome job!

    Reply

  21. Janina says

    That is SUPER cute. Great idea!

    Clara always seems to be SO happy and well behaved (probably bc you don’t post tantrum pics of her:-) ) But pls. tell me she has tantrums…otherwise I come over and swap her with my little One.

    Reply

  22. sara says

    OH! Very clever and adorable!
    I’ll have a jedi rabbit & dragon or big bear (#2 is still undecided, has been testing the costumes for the past few weeks) going out tonight.

    Reply

  27. Melinda says

    Those are great! My kids are huge Toy Story fans. Caela already asked to be Jessie next Halloween. I will definitely refer back to this. Don’t have a dog, though, maybe I can convince my husband;)

    Reply

  28. Jocelyn says

    I love what you did! Great job. When I first saw you got white duct tape for the hat I was a bit confused as to why you specifically got white…with a red hat and hair…but then when you unveiled the pants the lightbulb came on and I recognized your genius. I hate spending a ton of money on something that may not get worn much so I am all about getting double duty out of stuff like you did with her pants/boots/shirt. Here is what I did this year for the kids (star wars) http://thenestingspot.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/halloween-costumes-2012/
    and here is last year’s (red riding hood and sherlock holmes)
    http://thenestingspot.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/halloween-costumes-2011/

    Reply

  29. Rikke says

    Adorable costumes! Great job!

    I had to comment because we did the monkey and banana costumes last year, only our banana was slightly larger than yours (we have an English bulldog). Too funny! This year we did a referee (my son) and a football player (the bulldog). Also semi homemade like yours, which always feels good.

    Reply

  30. Maria @ Redecorate Blog says

    So cute! I love how everything that you used for her costume can still be used in the coming months for winter clothes — good thinking! She looks adorable, and Burger’s costume is a super creative idea, too. Way to go!

    Reply

  33. jennifer says

    They look adorable! My 3 year old also loves Toy Story, although her current favorite movie is Mary Poppins. So being the over-achiever that I am, I of course had to make her a costume that is as authentic as possible! I found a parrot umbrella online and had my sister crochet her a scarf, then I made her suit, hat & carpet bag. She loves it! I can barely get her to take it off for bed.

    My 5 month old? She got a store-bought, she’ll barely wear it and since she can’t appreciate it I didn’t want to go to too much trouble (not to mention that making the Mary Poppins costume took up what little spare time I had!) She does make an adorable little elephant though…

    Here’s pictures on FB, but not sure you’ll be able to see it or not because of my settings?? :
    https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150256586654946.73891.502494945&type=1&l=3fdffaf91c

    Happy Halloween!

    Reply

  34. Michelle Penny says

    Our almost 3 daughter is going as The Man in the Yellow Hat, thanks to Goodwill and Joann’s. I found a white button down, light khakis and a belt at Goodwill and dyed the clothes, along with a piece of scrap white fabric, yellow. I made the fabric into a tie, drawing dots on it with a sharpie. Joann’s had some stiff felt on sale, so I grabbed 5 sheets of that and pieced together the tall hat. Her 14 month old brother is going as Curious George, so he’s wearing brown sweats turned inside out, with a red tshirt with “Curious George” ironed on the front. We found a monkey knit hat and mittens at Target. Except for the giant yellow hat and the tie, they will both be able to re-wear everything!

    Reply

  36. Heather W says

    Unfortunately I can’t send a link (at work) but when my kids were 3 and 8 I took boxes one more square shaped and one more rectangular and hot glued butter containers (small ones) on them and then spray painted one red and one blue. The kids just wore blue and red sweat outfits from Target/Walmart and coordinating tennis shoes and went as legos! I also took small boxes and cut a hole in it so they could wear one on their head and put a butter container on it as well. I put round circles on their cheeks to match too. It was soooo cute. I saved butter containers or sour cream containers for a whole year so I would have enough to make them. It was so easy. I used to coordinate my kids every year too until the last couple. He is 10 and now she is 13 so not so much. They have been luke and leia from star wars and their dad was darth vader get it…. She was a chocolate chip cookie and he was cookie monster one year. They were both spiders one year.. It was so much fun…. Enjoy these years…..

    Reply

  38. Sarah says

    I DIY’d the same costume for my then 2-year-old daughter last year – and the hat and braid looked almost identical to Clara’s! So cute, nice job!

    Reply

  39. A says

    Love the costumes! Our friends throw a big Halloween party every year (adults only, none of us have kids) and this year my husband & I were Lucille & Buster Bluth from Arrested Development. Specifically, the Motherboy episode. I was a gypsy and he was Captain Hook. (They are mother & son and they have a creepy relationship.)

    Clip here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/1918. My husband even shaved his head to look like Buster.

    Reply

  41. pen@newyorknonsense says

    SO adorable! I can’t wait to dress up my future kids. Right now I just dress-up my husband like a fool (can’t wait to subject my children to the hilarious photos). Glad we got the chance to use our ridiculous Peg and Al Bundy costume (http://tinyurl.com/c4lee48) before the hurricane. Feels sort of wrong to celebrate in this neck of the woods right now. But, I was so happy to see kids out and about trick or treating.

    Reply

  42. Elsie says

    So cute! Clara makes a great Jessie. I totally love Burger’s costume (so creative), but I must say the first time I saw it I thought it was supposed to be a piece of bacon. :P

    Reply

  46. Lisa says

    Thanks for sharing how you did the belt buckle! That clear button/pin could come in handy for other costumes. We are in the process of making a buckle for Cyclops (one of the Avenger characters). In the past we also made a Dash Incredible costume and had to create a belt buckle for him. If only there were a craft store closer, we would have a better looking buckle for Cyclops…

    Reply

  48. Flo says

    I normally hate Halloween. But as 1 of 3 people on my work’s Social Committee, I figured I should probably dress up, since we put on a costume contest. And I decided this at exactly 3:00 pm the day before, which didn’t leave me a lot of time.

    Since I had to bring my dog to work with me (I work at an ad agency, so we can!), I figured I might as well make him part of my costume. A trip to my aunt’s closet and a borrowed sled turned me into an eskimo, and Max into my sled dog: https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/c0.0.403.403/p403x403/267652_10151249176976252_2130363119_n.jpg

    Reply

  49. Leslie F. says

    Those are both awesome costumes! I love the braid!

    My husband and I are going to a party tomorrow and we are dressing as Gru (my hubs) and one of his minions (me) from Despicable Me. Gru costume is easy, black pants,black shirt, striped scarf. We are splurging on a fake nose to glue on if for Gru if we can find the right one. I’m wearing a yellow hooded sweatshirt, overalls, black gloves and boots, and coke bottle glasses. I’ll be painting my face yellow and taping/pinning some black pipe cleaners to the hoodie for the hair. Both are simple and inexpensive!

    Reply

  50. Megan says

    My boyfriend and I will be at the signing in CT on friday! It may be pathetic but when Sandy was rolling in, I was most upset that it could hinder upon meeting you! So thrilled!

    Reply

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