Ideas for Refashioning a Men’s Jersey (formspring.me reply)
Awhile ago I received the following question on formspring.me:
I have this really cool old hockey jersey, but every time I wear it, friends say I look homeless. Do you have any ideas for what I could make it into so it’s more hip/flattering?
This was my answer:
OMG, I had one too! I loved it like a brother – it was the NJ Devils – and whenever I wore it (during my long-ago teens), friends would laugh at me because it was so big and mannish.
To make one more flattering…hmm. You could always do what those girls in Philly get done – have their mens’ football/hockey jerseys altered into dresses/cute skirt-and-top combos that are more girly. (I used to work at one such store…there was even a customer who bought a gigantic Sixers’ jerseys and wanted it made into a full-length dress for her PROM. /* o *
I’ll post a couple sketches of styles typical to what we used to make as soon as I get back and have the use of a scanner.
However, it’s been my experience that with a sports jersey, you’re severely limited by the polyester mesh fabric, the color combo, and the gigantic logo, and so you have to end up altering it into something that is still sporty instead of being able to hide its origins altogether. (And unfortunately the re-designs of mens’ jerseys like they do in Philly still scream 2003.) Perhaps you could chop it into something sporty and cute a la Alexander Wang? A cropped short-sleeve jersey (rolled sleeves) to wear with cuffed khakis and wedge-heeled sneakers?
What do you think?xoox
Carly
And finally I’ve gotten around to posting some sketches I did this evening of the kind of styles we did by refashioning the jerseys. (I was waiting for my Victoria’s Secret catalog to come so some of those lovely ladies could be my models, hehe.) I know some of these designs are really dated (and they aren’t exactly what we made way back when…I honestly don’t remember the exact details), but maybe they give you a starting point to work with?
And these were the neck corsages I used to make – cutting flowers out of different colors of jersey mesh, sewing them on to velvet ribbon, and adding “dewdrops” with a glue-gun. They proved really popular – especially around prom-time…there was even a girl who had us make her red Sixers jersey into a full-length halter-neck gown with matching elbow-length gloves (all out of mesh jersey material)!! *shudders* Each to her own, I suppose!
Hope that helps!
xoxox
Carly
