Football Costumes – Football Player Costume, Cheerleader Costume and more

Hey y’all, Happy Halloween! I’m sharing this year’s costumes today, and this may be the last group costume this bunch agrees to do. But after a lot of negotiation, they did agree to go as a football crew – costumes a lot like real every day life in the fall for us. I appreciated this theme because unlike some from past years, this was a really easy sew.

The only difference is that the kids originally wanted the baby to be the football. And though it would have been funny, I just couldn’t see myself explaining that choice to this sweet girl when she’s older. After all, I have to keep my favorite aunt status, ha!

So instead we made her a drill team member. Minus a hat, because I really don’t think she’d keep it on.

This costume started with a baby t-shirt (I drafted it by copying one of her t-shirts) then I added velcro to one shoulder like this. Even though this top isn’t a raglan, adding the closure works the same way – you just extend the seam allowance and sew velcro to it.

Once that was done I sewed on the sequined and fringed trim, and the top was done. I started at the front velcro shoulder edge, went down to the V, then back up to the other shoulder and around to the back in the same V.

Since Halloween weather here can vary widely, I planned the costume to be able to be worn over a long sleeved onesie or without it.

The bottom is a simple elastic waist circle skirt with sequins sewn around the hem.

Next was the cheerleader costume.

I started with the Fiesta Frock bodice. I cut it out of blue interlock for the main fabric, then I cut additional bodice front and back as shown below.

I sewed around the neckline and armholes like I did on this dress  and then turned the white bodice parts to the right side. Then I treated both as one fabric to sew up the side seams and add a back zipper. For a professional finish, I’d have added another layer to fully line the bodice, but since this is a costume, I skipped that. I did, however, sew the silver sparkle ribbon over the raw edges of the white contrast to finish those edges. 

The skirt has attached shorts underneath. I used the GoTo Leggings pattern with the attached skirt option, but I cut both the skirt and the shorts length shorter than the pattern called for. I also cut the bottom corners off the skirt pieces at an angle; this creates little triangular side slits in the finished version.

I cut 1 1/2 inch wide strips of the white ponte I was using, and mitered them together at right angles for the corners. Then I pinned to the wrong side of each skirt piece and stitch around the edges.

Then I flipped the binding to the right side and placed the two skirt pieces wrong sides together.  I stitched together at the sides, stitching over the binding seams and just to the points where I cut the triangle slits, as shown by the red line above.

Then I was able to fold the bindings to the right side of the skirt, enclosing all the seams, and just like the top I sewed the sparkle ribbon trim over the raw edges. Then I completed the skirt by sewing the waistband casing and attaching the shorts as shown in the pattern.

Next, my football player. For his jersey, I just used my Just a Jersey pattern.

I made shoulder pads out of craft foam; these just slide in under his shirt. I just trimmed up the foam to shape it to his shoulders.

The pants were a little more complicated. I started with the same GoTo leggings pattern, but I modified it to have a crotch gusset as shown by the blue lines below, and I made the lower legs not quite as fitted. I then sewed inseams, then sewed each side of the gusset to a leg, then completed the waistband as shown in the pattern. I finished the hems with a 3/8″ elastic casing after trying the pants on Bean to see where they should hit. 

Then I sewed two rectangular pieces about 5 inches by 4 inches, folded in half and sewn with 1/2 inch seams then turned right side out to a finished measurement of 2 inches by 3 inches.  I sewed these to the front of the pants and then I used the eyelet hole feature on my sewing machine to sew eyelets (you could also put in small grommets) and then laced the two panels together with shoelaces.

For this picture I told Tater to pretend he was telling his brother what play to run, and it was no surprise that telling his brother what to do came quite naturally to him, ha!

The coach’s costume was the simplest of all, and I didn’t sew a stitch of it. We grabbed a polo shirt, khaki pants and added a baseball cap, headset and playlist and this guy could be on the sidelines on Friday night.