DIY Sheriff Woody Costume

Halloween is slowly approaching and that means it's time to start thinking about what your little one(s) are going to dress as for trick or treating. After much debate, Toddler Bee has decided he wants to be Sheriff Woody from one of his favourite movies, Toy Story. Awesome! It's a pretty simple costume and I'm sure it will be easy to find one.

So, we headed out to some stores to look for a Woody costume. Walmart was the only store that had one and it was $25 for a one-piece jumpsuit with hat. What the what?! I was standing there looking at this costume and thinking, "I could totally make that, and for a heck of a lot cheaper." And so the idea was born!

I'm a pretty crafty person but sewing is not at all my area of expertise. So, I wanted to make this as simple as possible.

I braved my local thrift store and happened to find the perfect yellow long-sleeve shirt for $4. Bargain.

After that, I bought a roll of white foam from the dollarstore for $1.50.

And, the dollarstore even had cowboy hats! I've never seen them there before, so it must have been a sign. The hat cost $2.

The rest of supplies I had at home: a red Sharpie, brown paint, gold paint, black sharpie, a straight edge, red paint, yellow paint, hot glue gun, patience. (Ok, so I was lacking a little on that last one)

The Steps:

I started by drawing red lines on the shirt to make it match Woody's (this is where you use your red Sharpie and straight edge).

Then, I cut two vest shapes from the white foam and drew on cowprint with a black Sharpie. The vest was hot glued onto the shirt.

Out of my white foam I made: the belt, belt buckle, and gun holster. I drew my bull's head onto a piece of foam, cut it out and glued it onto the oval for the buckle. I made a ribbon for the front of the holster out of the foam, too.

Make a badge out of your foam, paint it gold and write "Sheriff Woody" on it. That gets glued onto the vest.

Then, I decided to be ambitious and make boots. I grabbed my son's winter boots and wrapped them in white foam. It was a little tricky to get the boots totally wrapped but by this point I wasn't worried about perfection and didn't think he would really care if some blue sole was showing through. This part was a bit like assembling a puzzle; I had to cut, turn, shape and glue the pieces down to make it resemble a boot. But, mainly, I cut a piece long and tall enough to wrap around the boot just above the toe, made a semi-circle for the toe and filled in the bottom parts with more foam (confusing, no?). Then, I painted it brown, made some spurs from foam and cardboard and glued those on, too. None of the foam is actually glued to the boot, so these won't be forever cowboy boots.

Now, all that's left is to tie a red bandanna around his neck and add a string and loop to his back for the pull-string.

I am quite please with the outcome of this, especially since it's my first foray into costume making and it only cost about $8!