“There’s no crying in baseball!” -A League of Their Own
The most comfortable thing I wore at Costume College was my reproduction AAGPBL (All American Girls Professional Baseball League) WII-era uniform. There was no corsetry or special undies other than a pair of shorts, plus it was easy to pack (and wash afterwards!)
A group of us decided to do some DIY uniforms and dress up as the Kenosha Comets! (I am on the far left).
(Photo by Andrew Schmidt).
We decided to do their white home game uniforms instead of their light green ones because we had trouble finding the right color twill. We modified a basic shirtdress pattern by extending the front so that the dress buttoned off-center, like the ones in the movie, and added belt loops. I modified Simplicity 1880.
Our team and arm patches were made by Emily, a team member, and Barbara of Of Corset.
I was number 8, which was Pauline Pirok on the 1943 team. Sorry, my mannequin does not have scoliosis, I just put the uniform on funny.
I added a pocket to the side, which wasn’t part of the original design.
My hat was a custom order from The Turnip Seed, an Etsy seller who does monogrammed hats. I sent her a picture and she was able to do exactly what I wanted. Some of the other girls on the team got plain wool baseball hats from eBay and made their own patches. Some other people bought the officially licensed hat from K&P Weaver.
Underneath the costume we all wore green satin shorts. I drafted my own, but a pair of men’s silk boxers would probably work as well. From beginning to end the shorts took about an hour, and I think you can tell! I was rushing to get these finished, and was afraid my sewing machine was dying, since the tension started doing some weird things.
For “cleats” I got a cheap pair of black sneakers at Target because I don’t like wearing very casual shoes, and didn’t see myself getting any use out of them the rest of the year.
We had a blast at Costume College, and plan to do it again next year! (The rest of the team photos are by Andrew Schmidt, official CoCo photographer).
Did you spot the lonely Rockford Peach?
Improvements for the next wearing:
- I need to hem the dress shorter. I tend to make my skirts a little longer for modesty, but it’s pretty clear in the team photos it’s much longer than everyone else’s dress.
- New socks. I need to get some darker green ones.
- New belt. I made mine with D rings based on an example picture, then looked at some more old photographs, and found that most of the belts had buckles. I didn’t have time to make a new one.
- I had to order my materials online because I was home sick for a while with the flu. The “twill” that arrived in the mail was a lot thinner than what I was expecting. Part of me wants to remake the costume more properly with the right materials, but realistically, I’d rather use the time for something else!
Project costs: Although having to pay for online shipping for a lot of things upped my cost, overall this was not too bad. My general goal is to stay below $100 for each project, unless I am doing something extravagant, and I got to stick to my budget, even with shoes included!
- Pattern: $4.99
- Cotton “twill”: $22.39
- Spruce Green Kona cotton: $4.62
- Hat: $12 + $5 shipping
- Buttons: $6.36
- D rings: $1.09
- Green satin: $5.89
- Patches: $12
- Socks: $5.99
- Shoes: $14.99 + tax
Most of us had the costumes we made for Costume College 2014, but we had a few new recruits. We also played a few innings of T-ball with everyone at the picnic, including the kids and people dressed in 50s dresses and heels!
Kim is like an advertisement for Coke!
Since the last wearing I hemmed my dress and shorts a few inches shorter to match the other girls, and got a new belt. I also picked up a lot of dust on my shoes from playing ball!
We also had a bake-off contest, with lots of delicious treats. 
I hope this picnic becomes a yearly event!
(Partial team photo by Lynne Taylor)
Fresh Frippery 