Turn the Play Date V-Neck into a Football Jersey Tee Shirt

September? Check!

Marching band? Check!

Friday night lights? Check!

You know what all that means???

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!!??

With this spin on the Play Date V-Neck your little fan will be!

That’s right! That is the Play Date V-Neck and I’m going to show you how I did it. Ready?

You are going to need a few things first.

*Play Date V-Neck Pattern
*quilter’s ruler
*pen
*rotary cutter and mat or scissors
*twill tape or ribbon
*pins, washaway tape, or glue stick
*basic sewing supplies

Let’s get started!

First, cut out your pattern in the size you need. I will be making a size 5 in the tutorial. Cut it out exactly like you would to make the v-neck according to the original instructions. Now, take the body of your shirt and lay it out in front of you. Place your quilter’s ruler on the pattern piece with one vertical line lined up with the fold line of the shirt and the top edge right under the point of the v-neck.

I print in black and white. So, I traced the size 5 v-neck line with the pink highlighter to help you see where to place the ruler, right where the highlighter is pointing. Draw a straight line across the chest of the pattern starting at the bottom of the v like I did above.

Make notes on BOTH sides of the line you just drew to add seam allowances. Trust me, you will be glad you added that little reminder. Now, cut the body piece in half along the line you drew.

Your pattern pieces will now look like this.

Sorry, swiped them out for traced versions for this picture. But same idea. You now have two pieces that make up the body of the shirt. I labeled mine here as upper body and body.

Place your new upper body  back piece on your fabric. Place it on the fold, just like you would on the original pattern. Remember that little note to add seam allowances? We are going to do that now, while cutting. Place your quilter’s ruler on your pattern positioning it to add 1/4″ seam allowance. Note: You can use whatever seam allowance you are comfortable with. Just be consistent! I use a serger, so 1/4″ is easier for me.

See above that my ruler is 1/4″ below my pattern piece. Now cut along the ruler’s edge with your rotary cutter. If you don’t have a rotary cutter, trace the pattern piece, then position the ruler and mark the line on your fabric with your choice of marking tool. You will be extending the arm hole down 1/4″ as well. Just follow the curve for it.

This is what your fabric piece will look like compared to your paper pattern piece. Notice the added seam allowance at the bottom of the upper body piece.

Next, do the same with the upper front piece. I simply folded back the section for the back along the line for the v-neck. Again, don’t forget to add the seam allowance to the bottom of the piece. Place your quilter’s ruler along the edge just like you did for the upper back. For the front piece you will be cutting out two separate pieces so, you don’t have to place the pattern piece along the fold.

You will need to extend the v-neck as well to meet up with the new bottom edge of the pattern. Simply place your quilter’s ruler along the v-neck to make sure it is straight and cut.

Here is what your cut fabric piece will look like compared to your original paper pattern piece. Note the added seam allowance at the bottom.

Now we are going to do the exact same thing for the lower body front and back pieces. You will place this pattern piece along the fold like the original body pieces. Don’t forget to use your quilter’s ruler to add the seam allowance at the top of the piece!

And here is what you will have after you cut. See the little sliver at the top peaking out? That is your extra seam allowance. A 1/4″ looks much smaller when pulled back to show the entire pattern piece.

Okay, we have all the body pieces cut out, let’s move on to the neckband! We will be using the original neckband pattern piece. But will will be squaring off the angled end to make a rectangle.

Place your pattern piece on the fold of your fabric. Using your quilter’s ruler, line up one edge with the long edge of the pattern piece and the end of the ruler with pointed end of the pattern piece. Use the straight edge of the ruler to square off the angle edge.

This is what you will have after you cut out your neckband.

Now cut out your sleeve pieces just like you would do making the original play date v-neck.

You’re ready to assemble!

Grab your upper front and back pieces and line them up, right sides together along both shoulder seams. Sew together along the shoulder seams.

Fold your neckband in half, wrong sides together, lengthwise, matching up the long edges. Press.

Next, line up the middle of the neckband with the middle of the shirt’s neckline and pin them together with the neckband along the right side of the shirt and all the raw edges lined up. Pin the ends of the neckband in place allowing them to hang over the bottom edge of the upper front piece by 1/2″. Line up the edge of the neckband with the neck line. You will have to stretch the neckband a bit. Be careful not to stretch out the neck line of the shirt. Pin in place.

Now, sew in place with a 1/4″ seam allowance. Press your neck band into place. Use lots of steam if your neckband is wavy to bounce it back into shape. You can topstitch the seam allowance down if you like. I did not.

Next, overlap the ends of the neckband matching up the end of the right neckband (view side) with the edge of the seam allowance on the left neckband. Make sure the two sides are line up and even across the bottom raw edge.

Baste in place with a long straight stitch 1/4″ from the edge. Hold the top neckband end in place firmly to avoid shifting. You can see I had a bit of slipping on the serged side at the very end below. That is okay. You need the folded edge to remain in place.

With right sides together, line up the upper and lower front pieces making sure to line up the center of the collar with the center of the lower body piece. (I upcycled a men’s shirt for my shirt and used the existing hem. Your shirt should not be hemmed unless you are upcycling as well.)

Baste together where the collar meets the lower front with a long stitch. Do NOT skip this step if you are using a serger. The collar over lap is bulky and very likely to shift using the serger. Trust me on this one. 😉 Also, basting allows you to check that everything lines up nicely. Actually, go ahead and double check that it all lined up nicely. It’s much easier to pull out a basting stitch and correct things if needed, than a serged edge or stretch stitch.

Stitch in place using a 1/4″ seam allowance. If you added a different seam allowance to your pattern pieces, use the seam allowance that you created. Press the seam allowance down towards the lower front.

Repeat with the back, sewing together right sides together using the seam allowance created when cutting the pattern pieces. I am using 1/4″. Don’t forget to press the back seam down also.

On to the sleeves!

Cut two lengths of twill tape, single fold bias tape, or ribbon long enough to go across each sleeve. I am using a ribbon that has the look and feel of twill tape. I found it at Hobby Lobby if you are wanting this exact ribbon.

Position into place along sleeve. I placed mine 2″ above the bottom of the sleeve for the size 5. Secure into place using pins, glue or washaway tape.

Stitch that baby into place along both edges. I used the same straight stitch I use for topstitching.

I know this picture isn’t needed, but it’s pretty. Sewing eye candy if you will. 🙂

Guess what! You’re done with the altering! Now go back to the original directions of the Play Date V-Neck and continue on with attaching the sleeves and completing the rest of the shirt.

Wonder what it looks like with the sleeves the same color as the upper part? Here ya go! You can compare and decide which look you want to create. Of course you can do the sleeves their own color completely and use three colors. I didn’t make a sample of that. Sorry! It’s on my list though!

Ready for some incredibly cute model pictures? My four year old is so sports crazy! It’s funny because we are not a sports household. I know, I’m hiding under a rock in shame. Thomas loves sports though and everything that comes with them.

He’s waiting for me to throw him the ball. Really, how can I say no to that face when he asks me to play catch?

The back of this shirt is perfect for some numbers, just like a real jersey.

The ribbon is totally optional also. You can leave the sleeve plain if you want. BTW, that’s red chalk on his elbow. I missed a spot. 😛 Just keeping it real. He is a kid after all.

Doesn’t he have a fierce game face? Yeah right, he’s totally yawning. No nap, played outside pretty much all day with a bunch of kids and we did pictures at 7pm. Let’s just say I have lots of funny out takes from this photo shoot that I’m sharing on my blog today.

This is clearly not an out take. This is a shot that goes on the wall. That smirk is totally him.

He launched that ball at me two seconds later.

Go sew up a football jersey tee shirt for your little sports fan! NOW you’re ready for some football!