College Football

While I am willing to accept the fact that most rabid sewists are not rabid college football fans, many are.  Including me.  But if you are not glued to the tv or to your seat at the stadium every fall Sat. please don’t give up on this post.  I do have some good sewing ideas and tips to share.

In the South and many other areas of the country, the countdown to the first game of the next season starts just after the national championship game in January.  That would be the very game won by our Florida Gators for two of the past three years.  But I digress.

We’ve been attending the Gator football games since 1997, the year our daughter was a freshman there.  My wonderful husband went to graduate school there a lonnnnnnng time ago so our ties to UF are strong.  Football season always means a new crop of family memories and a variety of new Gator-sewn items.

But this is a sewing blog, not my son’s football blog, www.orangeandbluehue.com Check it out.  Now let’s talk sewing.

When Laurel was born, my enthusiasm for Gator sewing projects ramped up to a whole new level.  One of my favorite scriptures immediately came to mind.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

This, we believe,  applies to all aspects of child rearing.  So when the annual Gator Club Gathering was held 3 weeks after Laurel’s birth, she attended the event decked out in her customized Nana-sewn baby Gator gear.

Even the coach paused for a photo op with the newest Gator fan present.

3 week old Laurel with Gator football coach Ron Zook. This was her first Gator Gathering.

Because of  Florida’s  oppressive June heat, this outfit was made of 100% cotton Swiss pique and royal blue cotton pima cotton gingham.  Orange rick rack completed the color theme.

TIP:  Before selecting colors for embroidery, pull out the rick rack, ribbon and fabrics you will use.  Matching thread to these items is so much easier than trying to do this in reverse.

None of my sport themed embroidery designs seemed appropriate for a 3 week old baby.  Instead, I relied on the team colors and text.  Any college team colors on a similar design would project the same infant enthusiasm.  The bib was only for drooling but it looked cute.

The addition of a headband for girls or a cap for boys adds a nice  extra touch.

Her mother and Laurel at her second central Florida Gator Gathering.

A year later, at the same event, Laurel had a new Gator outfit.   So did her mother, who was expecting little Robert in 8 weeks.

For Laurel’s outfit, I extracted the baby alligator from the retired Brother Card 6, Moskowitz characters, and added a football.  To the alligator I added a cap, a pony tail and a skirt, extracted from various designs.  This same collection has a baby elephant, duck and cardinal, suitable for Alabama, Oregon or Louisville.  Other collections offer baby animals and, with a little poking around, the infant mascot for almost any team can be found.

For little ones, I like to make a matching bib.  This was a the start of a new era for the Gators so this bib showed the hope we had for the upcoming season under new coach Urban Meyer.

Shelly’s maternity shirt design began with one of the darling angel babies from Elsa Goussard’s collections.  With a little editing, you can add a football or basketball or whatever.

The text makes the statement and the mother-to-be receives lots of smiles and compliments. I should have used dry cover up under the football.  Apparently, I enlarged it too much for the design to maintain good coverage.

When Robert was born, just 15 months after Laurel, he pretty much had to make do with store bought Gator gear.  Regrettably, I have made him only a few tee shirts of which I have no photos.

Football season has as many opportunities for sewing projects as does Christmas.  Among friends and family, surely everyone must have  college football fans who would treasure a gift professing loyalty to their favorite team.  Babies born into such families are proudly photographed and passed around in their game gear.  Tailgaters love having unique items as they strive to be for The Ultimate Tailgater title.

Each week, before game day, I will have a college football sewing post with projects from game day gear to tailgating supplies to baby gifts.  So stay tuned.  But now I have to get packed up to head to Gainesville for tomorrow’s season opener.  Go Gators!