My 2 year old has recently become OBSESSED with Toy Story, so naturally this year she insisted on being Jessie. Fine I thought, easy enough... but nooo, my girly girl needed to be Princess Jessie! Alright, I can do this. Challenge accepted!

Honestly the hardest part was creating the chiffon pettiskirt, not because it's difficult, but because nylon chiffon is a pain in the butt.

In total this outfit was a lot of fun. I figured out some tips and tricks along the way and to complete the family costume my husband and I are going as Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head!

Step 1: The Pettiskirt

For a truly princess look you need a pettiskirt, at least in the mind of my two year old. It has the fluff, you can twirl, and its so soft what princess wouldn't insist?

I learned how to make pettiskirts this summer after reading it on the blog Make It & Love It.

http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/07/full-and-fluffy-pettiskirt.html

I purchased the chiffon from afc-express.com (sometimes you can find it cheaper on Ebay) in the royal blue. I chose the blue skirt bottom as a nod to the blue jeans Jessie typically wears in the movie. Not going to lie, this was a incredibly pain in the but part and a sewing machine IS REQUIRED. I played around with my settings to learn to ruffle without a ruffler attachment (basically a single line stitch set on the highest spacing apart). I highly suggest keeping the nylon untangled and wrapping it as you go. Nylon chiffon tends to fold all over itself and at several time during other pettiskirts I may have had murderous thoughts. You may need a lot of patience for this part and wine. I highly suggest the win.

I of course altered the measurements a bit (the blog is for a 3-4T and my munchkin is barely a 2T) and I have a 2T dressform to work with. If you don't have a dressform this project is still doable, just difficult.

In order to create the cow print chap things Jessie has I took inspiration from Cinderella's dress. You know those two side things she has going on? I did that with thick jesery cowprint! Her little waist i a mere 20inches so they were 10inches wide at the top, and drop down into a tear drop shape. Pin it (if you can) and play around with shapes that work for you.

Step 2: Building the Costume

Pardon the crappy photo quality... a small child hid my good camera during this time.

At this point I was on a roll and didn't stop much for photos. I built the bodice as a tank top style (split in the back with velcro closure for easy in and out ability, out of white satin. Why? Because princess need silky smooth!

A side note, satin is a paint in the butt and frays alot. Want to avoid the crazy strings? As soon as you make a cut, lightly run the edge through a flame. Satin will melt (cauterizing basically) and it will prevent fraying. I don't suggest using this exclusively instead of hemming ever but it will save you some headache.

Once I have the bodice built, I cheated. You see that brilliant yellow? Thats not a different fabric. That is the lovely work of Jacquard Fabric paint. I taped off the interesting design Jessie has going on and painted. Let the paint dry overnight, flip over, iron, and your set. This fabric paint is AMAZING (although it smells like poo... febreeze was utilized) and sets not unlike the paint on a football jersey.

After the yellow was added I did a thin line in red, same deal, same type of paint.

Next is the belt. I found a really pretty, cheap, rustic looking brown ribbon (3inches approx) at Walmart. Honestly if they had a sparkley brown I'd have used that but I this grew on me. It has that dirty cowgirl look. Basically cut length. At this point I was just pinning everything. Nothing is really sewn together because I was getting a feel for how it'd turn out.

Now the belt buckle. This id a costume for a two year old. I needed durable while light and easily replaced if necessary. Hence, glitter cardstock. This is the type of stuff you find in Michaels in the scrapbook section. I cut the oval, free handed the emblem Jessie has in the movie and added red glitter glue. If you're using glitter used glitter glue, or seal the glitter with modge podge. Failure to seal will result in a tinkerbell explosion all over your house. The cardstock was a glitter gold by the way.

Lastly is the hat in this picture. The hat was a cheat. My daughter doesn't do hats. She doesn't like hats, hats immediately come off, in fact I'm fairly certain she's convinced hats steal toddler brains. The hat was a now. Soooo, to combat the hat problem the hat turned into a clip. And here's the cheat: I WAS going to make the hat, I WAS going to handcraft it and make it perfect, I WAS going to... until I found the perfect little red cowboy hat located in Walmart in the dog costume section. Was went out the window immediately.

Step 3: The Finishing Touches!

The finishing touches. After everything was pinned I realized the most important part was missing. The curly design on Jessie's shirt! After sketching out the design I nixed playing with more fabric (my sewing machine and I are not currently speaking) and cut it out using a fairly flexible red glitter cardstock (Michaels, again.) I used hot glue to secure the card stock to the painted portion of the shirt. Several try ons, one outing, and thousands of instances of coming in contact with nosey hands and it still hasn't come off! Hot glue is amazing.

Next is the hat. I covered this in red glitter glue and let dry over night. (She really loves sparkles.) After I punched holes along the sides of the hat and looped ribbon through to create Jessie's hat. Last was hot glueing the ribbon around the hat portion. Basically the easiest part of this insane outfit.

Next was sewing. Everything was pinned so this was pretty easy. Just stitch along where necessary and you the right thread. For the belt I only sew the top portion. I NEVER sew the bottom edge of the belt so there's no bunching. Personal choice and it works well for me.

Last for this costume were the dress items. I got a bow and used the same yellow paint for her hair. Speak of her hair her natural brunette look had to go for full Jessie costume. A tight top ponytail was braided and then red spray in hair color added. This blew toddler minds! Then the finished bow (again let dry over night) was added.

Pair this costume with white or beige tights and some brown cowboy boots and your's done!

Step 4: Trick or Treat!

Put that costume on your Princess Jessie and have an awesome time!

The higher the ponytail/braid the better the clipped in hat will stay. The only pictures I managed to snap were after running around like a crazy person so it was a bit askew... hence the candy bribe.

You'll notice she's hanging with her cousin in this photo who was Hello Kitty (this costume was made first and lead to her insistence of being a pretty princess jessie) who had a similar styled dress costume. Honestly I would've done different designs but one does not simply dissuade a 2 year old from fluff!