princess & the frog...and jessie too!

October 24, 2010

i can sew.  well kind of...
i can make pillow case dresses out of bandanas
(half the seams are done for you!)
and i can make leg warmers out of knee socks.
so i thought... hey i could make a "real" costume this year.
like use a pattern and everything!
stay tuned to see how that turned out...

but first, here are the finished products:

of course she wanted to be jessie
(see why here)



and after a year free of princess costumes,
she begged me for this one
it's so pretty how can you say no?
(& he got stuck as her side kick)

princess & the frog


princess tiana

i felt bad that i was spending so much time on the
other costumes and all she got was a dress
but then i found this hat here on etsy.
i think it's hilarious!  and she loves it!


the jessie costume:


i made a braid out of red yarn and hot glued it to the hat.
she is very detail oriented and also requested
a "pull string".  of course! (she's just like me)
i used a strofoam ring i found in the floral department at joanns
and wrapped it with ribbon.
then i hot glued the end of the ribbon to the shirt.


for the shirt, i bought a white dress shirt.
i made a template out of paper then traced it out onto the yellow fabric.
i cut it out, used that liquid seam stuff and then
stuck it on with iron on transfer or whatever you call it.
(can you tell i'm an expert yet?)
the i looped some ric ric and hot glued it on.



for the sleeves, i ironed on the the fabric again.
i just sliced the fabric with a craft knife so the button can get through.
i added the ric rac and little yellow loops of ribbon to match jessie's.



heaven forbid, my daughter would have to wear pants,
PANTS!?
so i said i would make a skirt.  we had this jean skirt
that was a little too "western" for every day so it was perfect!
the cowprint is a bandana (remember what i said about the seams).
i did have to cut and sew 2 pieces together.
but i decided to leave the top "rough"
you know that deconstructed look is really trendy right now!
i learned how to make a ruffle from My Backyard Eden
then i hot glued it onto the skirt.



finally, the belt is just made out of felt.
they had this nice felt with a design on it too.
the belt is hot glued together,
but i added velcro circles  to "buckle"it.

frog:

here is where the story of the pattern comes in.
i looked everywhere for something I could use
for his costume.  ( i knew i wanted to use this hat)
but finally i broke down and bought the $10 pattern 
(which by the way was 99 cents 2 weeks later...
after my receipt was long gone!)
 it was actually for a duck...but i could work with that.
anyway, after pinning/cutting out 8 pieces
and reading that i would have to pin/cut about 12 more,
i decide to veer off the pattern.


i had the shell done,
so i just cut out a piece of fleece and hot glued it to the inside of the shell.
then i stuffed it with polyfill and hot glued the last side shut.
i did the same thing on the back side.



the bottom was supposed to be elastic, but that involved
a lot more sewing and stringing through the elastic...
plus i thought it kind of looked like a dress.
so i decided to make it more like a onesie.
i trimmed it down on the sides
and cut the shape for the leg holes.
then i hot glued the flaps together.



by this time, i have no idea what i was supposed to
do according to the pattern.
i put velcro circles on the the shoulder straps
(reinforced with hot glue).


and here is the finished product!


onto the feet.
i cut out this shape two times for each foot.
i also cut it out of cardstock.
then i glued them all together (cardstock
in the middle for structure)


i added a ring of elastic to go around his leg
and the velcro on his shoe goes through 
the ribbon to keep the foot in place.

i'm so excited with how it all turned out!
i think i learned that i'm not a "pattern" person.
i just don't like all the rules!

i would like to point out that i don't expect that this costume will
last and be passed down to his children like the rainbow bright
costume my mom must have spent
thousands of hours sewing.
but i'm okay with that.

i hope that this inspires other people who don't necessarily have
sewing "skills" to go ahead and try to create
something.  sewing machines are great,
but so are glue guns!!

11 comments

  1. I'm making a Jessie costume for my little girl too. But will be doing it without sewing... yeah, still have a week to figure it all out, right? LOL. Love the idea of the felt belt - I think I may snag that! Thanks! :) Looks great!

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  2. Beth - You have done an amazing job on both of these! The Jesses pull string is too cute! Fantastic work! I'll be featuring this today - stop by and grab a featured button if you like. Thanks so much for linking to the Sunday Showcase - I greatly appreciate it. Hope you have a wonderful week! ~ Stephanie Lynn

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  3. The Jesse costume is awesome-I love it! :)

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  4. I love your version of the Jessie costume, especially the skirt and the pull string. Very creative and hardly any sewing required!!

    Rachel
    www.sewambitious.com

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  5. So adorable and very creative!
    Checking you out from the linky party Get Your Craft On Thursday!
    -Julie
    http://thewannabesupermom.blogspot.com/2010/10/mad-hatter-part-1-hat.html

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  6. Love the Jessie costume!

    Submit it in my Handmade Halloween Contest - starts now!

    Susan,
    http://entertainexchange.blogspot.com/
    Party and Entertaining Inspiration

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  7. What cute costumes, very creative!!!!

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  8. So adorable! I wish I could sew!

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  9. Thanks for visiting Sister Sister Sunday, we are going to feature your frog costume this week as our favorite. See you soon!

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  10. Just found your site! Amazing! Not enough hours in the day to read all i want to see! My daughter L-O-V-E-S Jesse from Toy Story. I've got to do this costume for her! Where did you get the adorable red cowboy boots?

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  11. thanks olivia! the boots are from the disney store. i got them around halloween, but maybe they still have them online?

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