Thursday, October 17, 2013

Football Made Adorable

I don't exactly know how this happened, but I am quickly finding that is exactly how everything happens in the business of creativity! I believe a dear customer, and now friend, asked me if I could make a Houston Texans shirt for her son. I mentioned this to my husband that evening and his ears perked up--- a reaction I don't often receive from him regarding fabrics and patterns. He said, "Watch out Sweets, this could be huge." I laughed it off and humbly responded with, "Isn't everything I make 'HUGE'?" wink-humble-wink. Two weeks later I was eating my words, and little else since I had walked headfirst into the world of American football and was therefor living (I am not exaggerating), LIVING at my sewing machine. I may know very little about football (both professional or collegiate) but I have to admit I know a lot more than I did just two months ago. Here is what I DO know: colors, patterns, coordinating fashion and creating standout-different looks. There were several evenings of me questioning (ok... it was whining) at my husband "but the yellow chevron is so much cuter for this team... the Steelers, right? why does the helmet have to be black instead of yellow???"but in the end he was always right. This is one of the only times we have been able to work together on a project for my shop and he walked away feeling useful, (I call it him having the upper-hand- if he had a power point on chevron vs. gingham to give at his job I would be of use to him as well).
So here is the first set I made, the Houston Texans. While I know the helmet is Navy in uniform, the navy t-shirt is quite appealing to my amazing Texan fans/Token Customers. Before I knew it I was being asked to make headbands, rag skirts, baby barefoot sandals... what the WHAT??? and WHO KNEW there was the world of resin out there? There are small businesses on Etsy (and other locations I'm sure) who sell handcrafted flat-back resin created molds of teams, logos, shapes, etc. While some teams are more difficult to locate than others, I have turned into the Sherlock Holmes of resin-flatbacks. I will search the internet high and low to find the perfect logo, helmet, etc for my headbands. They make it a little more special I think.



It took one glance of these on my shop's FaceBook page and the requests came pouring in. And so the domino effect happened----

Texas A&M
 
San Francisco 49ers:

 

BAMA Crimson Tide:


Dallas Cowboys:
 
University of Georgia Bulldogs: 
  
 

And just to be clear... this is only a FRACTION of the teams and/or colleges I have created items inspired by in the past three months. NFL licensed fabric is somewhat easy to get ahold of, and collegiate licensed fabric is sold in abundance as well. I did a little research (yes this blonde can think!:) to discover team and school colors, than the most frequent combinations of colors worn to games, and put my eye for color to good use. And WALAH!!! Sometimes simply truly DOES speak volumes! I love how they turned out, my own son has worn three teams already: Seattle Seahawks (Mommy and Daddy's hometown), Chicago Bears (his hometown and birth-home) and now our hometown team the San Diego Chargers.

Here are a list of the fabrics I have currently (subject to change based on availability- message me ;)

Collegiate Fabrics:
-Univeristy of Georgia (Bulldogs) UGA
-University of Nebraska (Huskers)
-Texas A&M
-USC Trojans
-UCLA Bruins
-Ohio State
-Texas Tech. University
-Arkansas Razorbacks
-University of Washington Huskies
-University of Oklahoma OU Sooners
-Washington State University Cougars
-Univ. of Texas Longhorns
-University of Michigan
-Oregon Ducks
-Alabama Crimson Tide
-University of Miami
-Florida Gators

NFL Team Fabrics:
-Houston Texans
-NY Giants
-Chicago Bears
-Dallas Cowboys
-San Francisco 49ers
-Pittsburg Steelers
-Green Bay Packers
-Oakland Raiders
-Denver Broncos
-New Orleans Saints
-San Diego Chargers
-Seattle Seahawks
-Minnesota Vikings
-Atlanta Falcons
-New England Patriots
-Buffalo Bills
-Kansas City Chiefs
-Carolina Panthers
-Philadelphia Eagles

For the most part, I am ordering fabrics based on customers requesting them. If you don't see a team or school you are wanting, just ask. I recently deisgned a team set for Lamar University  as well as Florida Atlantic University . I think they are two of my favorites ;)
 


Don't forget, you can always find me at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TokenBlonde