Bowling Shirts

My brother got married this last weekend. He's a super funny kid and I just love the crap out of him and his new wife. She's just too cute and they're beyond adorable together. Anyway, because I'm me, I can't just get them something like a toaster or set of dishes (though that was part of their gift). I had to make them something, and it had to be funny. So this is what I came up with.

Bowling shirts.

Why, you ask? Easy. My bro loves bowling. (I personally hate bowling. I'm a terrible bowler and I'm too competitive for my own good, which keeps me from enjoying how bad I am at this game.) He even took a bowling class for credit at his university. My poor sister in law is dragged bowling fairly frequently, but she loves that little puke, so she is okay with the whole thing. Well, on with the story. I was at Kohl's looking at their clearance racks when I found these wonderful short sleeved button up red shirts. The fabric and design just looked like a bowling shirt. It was perfect. And it had to happen. Home I went with my clearance shirts in tow, and out came the felt. I freehanded the pattern with my scissors (because I'm crazy like that) and ran to Ben Franklin for some spray glue. Guess what? Spray glue does not work for bowling shirts. Lame! So then I just had a sticky mess that my sewing machine hated. So that meant stitching by hand and then running them through the washer/dryer. Not a super big deal (luckily Friends repeats were on the TV), but a bit time consuming. Totally worth it, though. Because, yeah, they totally have personalized bowling shirts now. I wish I'd take a picture of the finished shirts before we gave them to my bro, but I finished at 2 in the morning and had to be up at 5 to catch my flight, so that didn't happen. What you can't see in the pics is the personalized name badge on the front. Yeah, these are legit bowling shirts. And I'm pretty sure that's the coolest wedding present EVER!
My bro is showing off how the shirt is to be used. Nice form, man! And, in case you were wondering, they loved them. I thought my mom would pee herself laughing. And my new sister in law said I should make them for the whole family so we can all wear them together sometime. I'm not sure if she was joking or not, but I'm seriously considering it now...