Stuffed Shirts

Disclaimer: some of you, especially guys (do they even come here?) and/or rabid sports fanatics, might be horrified by what you are about to see. All I can say is - it wasn't my idea. But I love how these turned out, and I'm not one bit sorry. And I'd do it again. And again. Because they were fun too. So there.

A few months ago a guy I used to work with, who also happens to be the brother of one of my sisters' very close friends, asked if I could make Phillies pillows for his man-cave. MLB doesn't make fabric that isn't fleece because of all sorts of licensing mumbo-jumbo, so it was going to be a creative sort of project. We thought maybe MLB bedding, but it would be too money-licious for a few cushions. I thought maybe doing some applique work to mimic jerseys might work. HE thought actual jerseys might work. After half a dozen "Are you SUREs?" I was tasked with jersey pillows. Fast forward to a few weeks ago when said jerseys came into my position, and the thinking cap had to go on to maximize the fabric and work around all the curves for the armholes and such. Fast forward again to Saturday when I snipped and pinned and had too much fun.

One had basic sleeves, the other raglan. Factor in the necklines and my tends-to-overcomplicate brain and I had a good long think before I snippety-snipped.

I knew I was making pillow forms to insert in these in case I had wacky measurements I couldn't find pre-made forms to fit. I wanted to keep them as jersey-looking as I could, so I had to deal with the neckline. I consulted with my creative team (aka asked my mom) and used a knit mesh hunk of fabric to mimic an undershirt (hopefully).

The shoulder curves prevented me from using as deep of a neckline as I would have liked on this one, but it turned out ok. I picked out all the stitches on the "official" labels and resewed those back down.

Each time I made a cut into one of these I cringed a little inside (and may have apologized to the ghost of Mike Schmitt more than once. No, Schmitty isn't dead, in case you were wondering. But it's not like I could apologize to him in person). My dad was all "Who asked you to do THAT?" when he saw what I was up to. Apparently, in my household, jerseys are something to be revered and any degradation to their integrity is to be looked upon in a highly aghast manner. BUT, when I was done, I no longer felt bad. I apologized to Mike Schmitt again--but this time for apologizing in the first place, because the end result was pretty cool. My dad even grinned. He doesn't really grin. He's pretty stoic. He may have been thinking about the ribs and coleslaw we were having for dinner the next day, but I'm going to pretend it was about these. OK--here's your reveal--and I know, I know, they're just pillows--but I love the way they turned out.

Due to the curve of the pillow the red "undershirt" isn't as obvious as I would have liked, but whatevs.

The button-fronts were an unrealized bonus for easy off washing purposes (if you wash a jersey...do you even wash a jersey? I have no idea).

They're the same size--I have no idea why one looks so much larger.

I was stupid geeked about how these turned out. Maybe because they were a little more detail-oriented than I thought they'd be... Even Z-man wants one. I guess I'll be scouring eBay for old jerseys now. Ta!

** This post has been featured on the Shutterfly blog post '75 Rad Team Room Ideas.' **