Boy's Football Jersey

One of our nephews had a birthday this past month and while trying to figure out what to get or make for him someone told us he wanted a football jersey (American football, that is).  I love making stuff for the kids even though I know they will grow out of it way too fast, so I was excited that this seemed to be something I could handle easily.

The fabric I used was a synthetic of some sort, a deep blue athletic-style fabric that my best friend gave me as part of a birthday gift many years ago. I've used bits and pieces of it here and there but it really seemed to be waiting for this as its fate. 

Stretch & Sew 861

Now, I've never made a football jersey before unless you count the tiny one I made for my husband's office event a while back.  So I pulled up some pics via Google Image search for visual aids and perused one of my pattern boxes for a starting place.  In there I found this Stretch & Sew pattern that I got from some friends when they were downsizing their sewing supplies. While the fabric I was using was not stretchy this was still a really good place to start.

 

I cut a rough shape based on the pattern, but altered the shape of the sleeve a bit to be more square like the jersey pics I'd been seeing online.  Yeah, we're not really a very sports-oriented family so neither of us has or really feels the need to have a sports jersey. Oh well, that's what online resources are for! :)

With the whole thing cut out I made some small alterations to the shape of the sleeves to match the size of the armscye and started to put it together.

 

I went ahead and put the neckline in...

 

...and almost immediately noted that it looked waaaay too small for my nephew's head. So, I cut the whole neckline out and reshaped it and stitched a new one in.  Then I attached the sleeves and seamed the sides and hems.

Finally, my husband carefully cut out and taped on some stencils and painted some fun letters and numbers on the back.

 

the birthday boy

He seemed more excited about it after his mother told him what it was, but he was pretty distracted by all of the cool fireman-themed gifts he received. That's fair. :)  Here's hoping it fits and he doesn't outgrow it immediately lol

Have a great start to the week!