Recreation: 1939 Phillies Road Jersey

An original, unrestored 1939 Phillies jersey is on the left. My finished recreation is on the right. Follow along with the photo story to see how I did it.

My "canvas" at left, and the finished product at right. At a glance it looks like I just stuck a logo on the front, but making a faithful reproduction involves many more steps. Start to finish- 16 hours of work. If you have the interest and patience, I'll take you through the process.

This Wilson heavyweight flannel appears to have never been numbered, and proper storage over the many decades since it was made (I am guessing early 1940s) has left it supple, clean and free of moth damage that is so common. I snared this on eBay a few years ago with this project in mind, and I am sure the jersey cost me under $125. It's also a generous size 46, very unusual for sporting equipment from that earlier time. Notice that the ribbon trim, while the correct colors of red and navy, has three color bands. The 1939 Phillies jersey had only two. We'll need to address that. And the sleeves had only one, not two trim stripes at the ends. To begin, all the trim must be carefully removed.

All of the trim had to come off the jersey, a stitch at time. I did this job under a magnifying lens to ensure that I didn't damage the nearly 70 year-old trim because we were going to modify it and reuse it. Working slowly and carefully, I snipped the woven edge off the ribbon, and carefully unwove it leaving perfect two-color, navy and crimson trim.

Here is the original Phillies jersey from my archives and the reproduction with the logo superimposed on it. Do you see a problem? I do. The buttons are not in the correct place. Note the button directly above the middle "L", and the one squeezed in the spot between the two L's below. To me, nothing looks worse than a jersey with the front wordmark sewn too high or too low. There is no compromise here, two buttons-- and their buttonholes- must be relocated for the reproduction to work.

Very few clear photos of these jerseys exist. And none are good enough to simply copy to make a pattern from. Here, I have superimposed art I drew from one such jersey on top of another jersey photo, scaled to the same size. You can see that NOTHING lines up. These old jersey designs are all somewhat unique from player to player, drawn originally by hand on heavy paper, the paper pricked with hundreds of pinholes on the outline of the (red) top layer of the word, , laid on top of the red felt, and talcum powder dusted on top. The resulting ghostly lines provided all the guidance the tailor would have to cut it out with a sharp pair of scissors. The red felt was stitched to a solid piece of navy felt, and by hand and using only his eye, the tailor would cut the outline.

Here is my final cutting pattern, ready to be sent to the computer-driven cutter. Note that the wordlark must be cut in two overlapping halves, as one tucks under the other when the shirt is buttoned. The pattern is created in Adobe Illustrator, a powerful but difficult-to-master piece of design software.

There is a total of five pieces that the cutter produces for us. Before cutting the felt, I back it with a lightweight interfacing that helps stiffen it, and then apply a final layer of plastic welding film that will be used to "glue" the layers together in the next steps.

I actually cut the lettering mirror image, from the back, right through the paper backing of the welding film. Once the appliques are cut, I peel off the backing paper exposing the heat-sensitive plastic film below.

I carefully align the pieces, and will next press then together for eight seconds at 330 degrees F. The backing on the top layer bonds it to the bottom layer to prepare it to be stitched.

Next, I edge sew the layers together. Felt lettering is typically straight stitched, like this. Twill has a woven edge that can unravel, so a zig zag stitch is used with twill.

Now it is time to move the two misplaced buttons and buttonholes. I've clearly noted the proper measurements on my drawing, then temporarily placed the front wordmark where it belongs. I've marked the locations for the repositioned buttons using painters' tape.

I have marked the marked the exact location of the two new buttonholes with soft lead pencil. compare them to the original buttonhole locations.

Once the buttonhole outline is sewn, using a small sharp knife I cut a slot to open it.

The sewing machine has a special foot to sew buttons. the bar in the center is an extra sewing machine needle inserted as a spacer... why? It allows the button thread to have some extra length so you can actually button the button. If I omitted the needle/spacer when sewing, the button would be sewn so tightly to the shirt that I'd never be able to get the button through its hole!

The buttons are now secured in their proper places!