So around here, I spend a lot of time making things for myself and the toddler. I have a few great men’s patterns to bust out – and I even got some nice fabric to make my husband some shirts. I’ve got a robe “in progress” for the teenager – but I haven’t finished it. I need to have a UFO weekend around here sometime and finish up all the things I’ve cut or started, but not sewn or finished. But for now, I have finished something for the teenager, and I think it’s pretty cool.

Dandelions ‘n’ Dungarees Adult Old Tyme Baseball Shirt

It’s no secret that around this house we love baseball. In fact, baseball season is about the only time the TV cable gets turned on around here (the other time is when someone is sick…but even then, it’s to watch marathon episodes of something terrible like Teen Mom). In our house, there’s a pretty big rivalry, since we’re fans of AL West teams – Wining Husband cheers for the Seattle Mariners, and the teenager and I cheer for the Oakland Athletics. I’m not sure who toddler girl is a fan of, but at the moment, it looks like it’s the Los Angeles Angels (each of these are affiliate links – and the only three in this article), since, well…she cries any time we watch a game where they lose.  So, when I saw that Dandelions ‘n’ Dungarees posted a call for testers for a baseball jersey shirt, I was quick to sign up. I was selected to test the XS for my teenage son. 

The jersey can be made out of twill, cottons, wovens, or even knit fabric. It uses piping – and it was my first time working with this notion.  It was surprisingly easy. I’ve already done understitching and stitching the ditch, so it wasn’t hard at all to use the piping. I want to get a piping foot for my machine so I can follow the directions to create my own custom piping.

Choosing the twill fabric for the shirt

Like I mentioned, The Teenager is a huge fan of the Oakland Athletics, so it was a given that I would do the shirt in the team’s colors. I originally had found some *great* baseball jersey like fabric at Goodwill a few weeks ago – but he said “Meh, Wrah, I want a white jersey.” So, I’ve set the gray aside to make Wining Husband a Mariners-themed jersey. I went to the fabric store and looked for my notions. I could only find a lemon-yellow piping (here’s where having that piping foot would be awesome), so I decided I’d do the piping green and the contrast cuffs and facing in yellow. I grabbed the yellow and white twill, and I was on my way. I have a vintage A’s patch on order (I’ll apply it later since there are rules about that stuff) and I’ll put the number “52” on the back for him (Yoenis Cespedes’ number…yes, he was traded, but he’s still my son’s favorite ball player). 

Sewing the shirt up

I was pleasantly surprised. For some reason, I had it in my head that this would be more challenging to sew up than it actually was. Perhaps it was the pregnancy fatigue talking, or maybe just my concern about fitting my son, or the attention to detail I paid in doing the work because I know he’s going to want to wear this shirt a bunch. I’m not sure. What I do know is that it was surprisingly easy to sew up, and it took about an hour and a half from start to finish…except for the time the iron decided to throw up some random brown gunk on the white! I wound up washing the shirt and cleaning the iron before I attached the snaps. I’ll have to make some more of these.

Waiting was the hardest part…

When the shirt was done, my son ran off to school to get there early before I could check the fit and get photographs of him! I stalked the front door starting mid-afternoon, waiting for him to get home so he could see his shirt and try it on. He was…not as enthusiastic as I was – not because he didn’t like it, but because he’d had a rigorous workout at track practice and he’d been up late and then up early studying hard, so he was tired. He says he’s looking forward to me putting the patches on. Once he tried it on, though, he really liked it. And it fit him great!

The photos:

Without further ado, here are the rest of the photos! There’s a link at the end if you’re interested in learning more about the pattern. 

The pattern is on sale through Saturday 4/25

Through Saturday 4/25, you can purchase a copy of the adult Old Tyme Baseball Shirt pattern in the Dandelions ‘n’ Dungarees Etsy shop (Not an affiliate link – just for you to grab) for just $5. In fact, you can get any of the baseball shirt patterns for this discounted price. (I may have to pick up the toddler size myself so we can be a matching family.)

What fabric would you use for making a baseball jersey? Post your thoughts in the comments.