Cheerleader

Level: Moderately Easy for adults. Requires ability to measure and cut patterns and to iron fusing tape.

Completion Time: About 2 hours

Create a cheerleader skirt in your favorite team colors.
Match with a sweatshirt and shorts or tights to add spirit to any school parade or party.

Materials:
On hand: Plain sweatshirt that fits
Shorts or tights to wear under skirt
Pencil or fabric marker
Pencil, chopstick or dowel rod for pom pom
Glue
Supplies needed:
3 inches, VELCRO® Brand Fabric Fusion fastener
3/8 yard VELCRO® Brand Sticky Back fastener
3/8 yard felt in color A
3/8 yard felt in color B
Fusing tape, 1/2 inch wide

Patterns:
Skirt (Diagrams 1 and 2)

Instructions:

1. Cut a piece of felt for the skirt in color A, 13 x 25 inches. Place the felt rectangle on a table horizontally with the wrong side up. Draw a line lengthwise, 3 inches down from the top edge. Fold the top edge over to the line and press. Below the line along the right side, mark and remove a piece 2 x 10 inches. Divide the remaining width in 6 equal parts and mark vertically for "pleats". Cut 5 pleat slits only to the top line. (Diag. CL-1).
2. From felt in color B, cut 6 pleat inserts each 3-1/2 inches wide and 11-1/2 inches long. Along the skirt top, lift the folded edge and center an insert between the top fold and the bottom edge and over each pleat slit. Center last insert over the pleat edge by the cut out corner. (Diag.CL-2). Fuse inserts to wrong side of skirt, at the top above the line. Fuse folded skirt edge down to encase the inserts into the waistband.
3. Fuse VELCRO® Brand Fabric Fusion fasteners to waistband ends so left pleat covers the insert on the right side.
4. Draw team letter or adapt from computer fonts and enlarge to desired size. Trace onto felt A and cut out. Glue letter to fabric B and cut out leaving a scant 1/4 inch border in contrasting color. Cut VELCRO® Brand Sticky Back hook pieces to apply to back of letter. Apply corresponding pieces of loop and apply to sweatshirt to center the letter.
5. For the pom pom, cut 1 piece of felt A and B, each 5 x 12 inches. Place each rectangle horizontally with wrong side up. Draw a line lengthwise, 1/2 inch down from top edge. Cut vertical slits from bottom edge to the line 1/4 inch apart to fringe both rectangles. Fuse top of fringes together. Apply a small piece of VELCRO® Brand Sticky Back hook tape to the end of the pencil or dowel stick, allowing the hook to catch the felt, roll up the fringe around the stick. Attach with additional VELCRO® Sticky Back.
   
   To convert back to normal use, remove VELCRO® Brand Sticky Back from sweatshirt and pencil.

Designed by Sheila Zent for Velcro USA Inc.