Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Coach of the Year

I was giddy with excitement to learn tonight that Soccer Son had been voted Coach of the Year by his fellow high school soccer coaches. I gather, though, the award tends to be somewhat automatically given to the coach of the winning team--and Soccer Son's team won this year. Still, I think his training and leadership had a lot to do with it--he's really good with those kids.

What did the team get? Well, they got this pennant, for one thing. And that's where having a blog comes in handy, because I need your advice.


Soccer Son showed up tonight with the pennant in hand and asked me if I could sew the letters down. You see, he expects the pennant to hang in the gymnasium for "15 to 20 years," and he's worried the glue will dry out and the letters will fall off if they're not sewn down. Well, of course I said I'd do it, but I wonder how it should be done. Have you ever done anything similar? Would you hand stitch it using a blanket stitch or machine stitch it using a straight stitch? Or something else?

Thanks for your input! I appreciate the help.

15 comments:

Searchfamilies said...

I would do a machine blanket stitch or something similar to make sure it is secure
Hugs Janice

Anonymous said...

You have a Bernina!!! By all means a machine blanket stitch.
ellen in VA

Pat S. said...

Congratulations on the win and the award. I bet his dad is estatic!

I'd probably just do a machine straight stitch for reinforcement so it doesn't look too "crafty".

Quilter Kim said...

Congrats on the win. I have to do something similar as my DH is in Lions Club and I get nominated to sew down all of their awards and patches on their flag. I have just been doing a zigzag stitch along the edge. It seems to be working fine and I always match the threads so as not to show up too much.

Minniestitchw said...

My suggestion would be a zigzag. It seems to be what the sport stores do on shirts and things.

Lady of the Cloth said...

How about that clear thread in an invisible machine stitch. That stuff should last longer than the fabric.
Congratulations to him from the Northwest.

Nancy said...

I would do a straight stitch in matching thread....

Clare said...

It most probably hang at least 20 ft in the gym where no one will actually see the sewing on it. I would use the invisible thread (like previous commenter advised) with a straight stitch.

dianne said...

Auntia checked her letter jacket and its patches are sewn on with a machine zigzag stitch in matching thread - they've been holding for about nine years now - so i guess that is what the pros use (gawd knows that if we'd waited for ME to sew them on, they'd STILL be languishing in the pocket)

Paula, the quilter said...

Machine zig-zag in matching thread. Have the bobbin thread match the top thread. And remember to STABILIZE!!! Using a stabilizer will keep it from tunneling. Try a tear-away.

Kathy H said...

My friends and I used to make garden flags on the nylon material and we would satin stitch the letters or pictures on with our machines. It worked great.

Robin said...

Well, yay and YAY, that's so exciting!! Doesn't it do your heart good when your kids get the acknowledgments they deserve?! Is the pennant going to hang from the ceiling or on a wall? If it's on the wall, I vote for adding stabilizer or possibly a layer of felt to match. Then I would machine blanket stitch the letters down. Somehow, machine blanket stitching seems like it might cause it to pucker less than like a straight stitch might do. You'll need to experiment.

Patty E said...

I suggest using either matching thread or invisible thread with a machine blanket stitch. I agree about using stabilizer - it really helps with machine applique. Good luck.

Vicky said...

Straight stitching. Congrats to Coach!

Julie said...

Can't add much more than all which has been said. These letters will last forever.

Didn't you know your children were gifted? Mine are!