Sewing a Football Jersey

Materials

• Football leagues at all levels use different materials to construct their jerseys, but the most accessible and least expensive option is cotton. Fabric stores also carry cotton in a range of colors. Lightweight, sturdy cotton is comfortable for players to wear and the material breathes, which means air penetrates the fabric keeping players cool.

  Letters and numbers on NFL football jerseys are sewn on, but iron-on decals work just as well for casual football team jerseys. Select a decal color that sharply contrasts the jersey̵7;s base color. Black or white are safe choices, or consider using choosing decals in the team̵7;s second color.

Preparation

• The basic shape of a football jersey is a slightly oversized T-shirt with extra space around the shoulders to accommodate the shoulder pads. Therefore, add a few inches of extra material to a T-shirt pattern̵7;s sleeve segment and upper portion of the front and back shirt panels.

  Pin each pattern piece to the cotton fabric and cut out each section. Pre-shrinking and ironing the cotton before pinning the patterns helps you achieve appropriately sized T-shirt sections. Add a v-neck to give players more room around the neck.

Process

• Sewing the T-shirt sections together from the inside hides the seams from the outside. A sewing machine is the fastest sewing method but a strong hand-stitch is just as durable. Add hem lines at the sleeve ends, neck and panel bottoms.

  Set the iron-on decals on the back of the jersey with the player̵7;s name just under the shoulders and the player̵7;s number in the middle of the back. Read the decal instructions to determine how long to hold the iron over the letters and numbers.

Washing

• Players can wash the jersey with other similar colors as they normally wash cotton. Stain treatments are helpful for removing grass stains following games and practices. The pre-wash prior to construction hinders color bleeding in subsequent washes. Place the jersey in a warm dryer cycle or hang it to dry. Cotton does not hold its shape extremely well after washing and drying so use a warm iron to straighten its appearance.