Costume Remix #17: 42 (2013)
As a baby costume designer, I’m so eager to learn and enhance my craft and I spend a lot of time studying other artists’ work. I am always inspired by the costume pieces from some of my favorite films. So, I decided to start trying to recreate, and in some cases, revamp or put my own spin on some famous and not so famous pieces from these films.
42 gives us a glimpse into Jackie Robinson’s historic start in Major League Baseball. As you might imagine, a lot of the costumes are baseball uniforms. But because this film takes place in the 1940’s, Caroline Harris serves up some really beautiful period garments. I loved literally everything that Rachel (Jackie’s wife played by Nicole Beharie) wore. But then I started doing some research of my own on the baseball uniforms and I became kind of obsessed with them.
Simultaneously, I was planning our 10th wedding anniversary/vow renewal. We decided to ‘elope’ like we wanted to do the first time around and planned a week of foolishness for a tiny group of framily. I thought it would be fun if we had some matching t-shirts. And then it hit me. I could combine this remix and our anniversary celebration.
So, I decided to remix the Dodgers’ jerseys using an Ankara print fabric, having “Brewers” (our last name) embroidered across the front and adding the number 10 to the back to signify our decade together. I didn’t add a name to the back of the jersey because that wasn’t what was used during that period.
We had a blast on our Vegas vow renewal. This was the morning we left and we were pretty wrecked…but so full of love.
Pattern: Kwik Sew 2221
Fabric: Ankara Print from AKN Fabrics
Style: Baseball Jersey
Vintage/Contemporary: Vintage (1990s)
I made both jerseys with two layers so I could hide the embroidery. I also reinforced them with facing so they’d be sturdy enough to support the embroidery. But besides those few changes, I kept this simple pattern as simple as possible.
This was a super fun and easy project and the jerseys turned out better than I expected.