Rodeo Road: Red, White & Blue Barrel Racing Shirt

So if you've been here before, you probably know this already, but just in case you haven't heard, here's a news flash: my kids rodeo. Yes, the oldest are only 5 and 7, but in this rodeo momma's eyes, they are awesome. Every year they have a Red, White & Blue rodeo with their youth rodeo group on or around the 4th of July weekend, and last summer Sissy informed me she needed a snazzy new shirt for this year's event. I knew what I wanted: something like one of the shirts from Crystal Ann or Trudy at barrelshirts.com. But I'm too cheap. So I made one myself. (Insert gasps of horror from my real-life friends.)

Warning: this may be waaaayyyy to flashy/gaudy for your tastes. But trust me, this is the thing for barrel racers, and they look great especially under the arena lights in front of a crowd.

I started with a western shirt I picked up on clearance over the winter. Finding a red or blue shirt that would work was actually harder than I thought. I was really looking for a solid red because I thought it would look cute with her jeans, but I thought this one would work and the price was right. So right that I picked up an identical shirt for Bubby and they will match at at least one of the rodeos. But I promise not to glitz his up.

As you can see, I started by laying out paper to figure out what sizes I wanted to make the yokes on the front and the back of the shirt.

And what did I use for the yokes? Did I mention a little glitz?

I traced my patterns onto my Wonder Under, and ironed the Wonder Under onto the red sequin-y fabric for the yokes.

The I peeled away the paper backing to expose the adhesive...

And ironed them onto the shirt.

Then I added these cute white crosses I picked up. Cuz not only did I need some more white, but God rides with my little cowgirl.

Since we needed a little more patriotism to go with the God AND country theme, I added some stars, too:

But that wasn't nearly enough bling. So I found me some of this:

I cut lengths of ribbon to the length I wanted the fringe to run over her shoulders.

Then I cut matching lengths of mylar fringe for each arm in red, blue and silver.

I layered them up and stitched them together.

Then I wrapped them with the ribbon and stitched them onto the shoulders of the shirt:

When I was all done I also ran a set of stitches around the edges of the yolks and around the edges of the crosses. Even though I ironed them on, I wanted to make sure thery were not coming off. So up above is the back and here's the front:

So how did it work? Here's a back view of the fringes flying in the goat tail tying...

And here they are a-flyin' again in the barrel racing...

In short? Sissy loved it! And that's all a rodeo momma can ask for.

Linking to: Making the World Cuter Mondays

Just Something I Whipped Up Monday

Metamorphosis Monday
Take a Look Tuesday
I Made It!
Get Your Craft On!
Rednesday