jessie the yodeling cowgirl

from toy story 3- when buzz accidently gets switched to "spanish" mode.


while in spanish mode he is less inhibited and more open about his affections for jessie- who was completely unaware of his feelings

frankie has LOVED jessie from toy story for a long time. she saw a doll at kroger and has been hoping and hoping to get a jessie for her birthday. i began thinking about making one for her- and the thinking was so much fun that i decided to just go ahead and try. i actually have horded enough fabric pieces that i could put her together without buying a single thing- except skin colored fabric.

yellow fabric was from making binding for duckie hooded towels. red yarn is some left over merino i bought to make a diaper cover. white fabric and buttons came from one of chris' work shirts that got a nasty stain on it.

denim came from a button down size five polo denim shirt that got messed up along the way. it provided just the amount of flex i needed- true jeans were too stiff. the cow print fabric i had left over from making an ABC quilted wall hanging and cowprint stood for "c". i used corduroy for her boots- which actually extend up to her knee below her jeans. the soles of her boots are inside out corduroy.

oh- and to give her a real rag doll type feel i packed air soft bullets in her feet and hands. i actually am going to reinforce her hands a bit because it's just one layer of fabric thick and frankie already plays so enthusiastically with her that i can tell that the one layer will wear quickly. her butt i had to thicken up a bit. originally it was too flat to add the little airsoft bullet bean bag. so i took out the butt fabric and added some with darts so she'd have a solid seat to sit on. it fits the air soft bullet bean bag i sewed perfectly.

her hair i used the merino for as well. i first crocheted a little cap for her- then i cut long pieces of yarn and did sort of a latch hook rug type deal. the picture you see up on top isn't how her hair really looks now. i ended up taking all that out because the end product was a braid that was thicker than her head.

so instead i did one layer of plugs(i felt like a wig maker) all around the crown, then about 3 or 4 layers from the edge of the crown and back- but i did this ONLY around the front of her face. the back and sides remained one layer thick around the edge. not sure if that makes sense.

i toyed with the idea of getting a voice box and recording some yodeling to put into her chest area. but frankie is so good at yodeling and her imagination is just so ripe that she had no problem yodeling for jessie even when she was just a leg!

i tacked the chaps down to her thighs only with a mattress stitch to make the chaps hug to her legs a bit more, but keep the flare at the bottom.

the faceless jessie. i knew the doll would be a hit when frankie HAD to go to bed with her at this point. she didn't have a face and her legs were held to her body by giant straight pins. i wasn't so excited to have straight pins in bed with me but frankie wouldn't budge.

the belt buckle and hair bow are felt from a felt monstrance for a doll st. clare i made last summer.

she's so posable:)

i ended up painting her face. my favorite part was applying the ever so subtle rouge to her cheeks.

*** i now have a jessie doll for sale in my etsy shop- click here to link to it.