N7 Armband

Last night we debuted new-new team uniforms (it's kind of a long story how we wound up getting new uniforms again, so suffice it to say that it was necessary).  Along with the new-new uniforms, many of our girls decided to order armbands for themselves as well (skaters are required to display their numbers on both arms).  Taking a permanent marker to your arms works just fine, but some opt for the armband because marker often rubs off and needs reapplying.  That should come as no surprise what with all of the sweating and shoulder checking derby girls do.

Instead of ordering armbands I wanted to design my own.  I made some for myself before, but I had to retire them after a couple of months or so.  The issue was that the fabric stretched over time and would droop or fold over itself, obscuring the numbers.  And that's problematic because you can be penalized if your numbers are not clearly displayed.

The old armbands were simply sewn "tubes" of interlock (T-shirt-like) fabric and fabric paint.

For my new armband (I wound up only making one, haha), I wanted to make use of elastic bands that would keep it firmly in place.  The nerd in me also wanted to incorporate a visual element that would serve as a nod to Mass Effect, the video game series that inspired my number choice.

Commander "Jane"/"John" Shepard in N7 armor.  Hmm...it bothers me that whoever made this wallpaper simply flipped Femme-Shep so she looks like some mirror-reflected doppelganger.

Ideally I wanted to make an entire sleeve with the n7 armor stripe running down it, but it seemed likely that it would bunch up under my elbow pad and feel like a hindrance. I kept it just long enough to run from under my shoulder to just above my elbow.  So it's short in comparison to a sleeve, but it's still long as far as armbands go.

Obviously I opted for a green stripe (one of our team colors) instead of the classic red stripe.

There are imperfections galore, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  Despite the simple look of it, this armband is deceptively much more complicated that the old ones.

First off, the old armband was simply a poorly sewn "tube" of green fabric.  And it wasn't even the right shade of green...  This armband tapers towards the bottom for a better fit.  Plus it has elastic bands sewn in to keep it snug and in place.

I used a thicker, 2" wide elastic band at the top to maintain rigidity for the number, and a much thinner elastic (1/4" maybe?) on the bottom.  The stripes are made from old T-shirt scraps and twill tape.  Despite my best efforts, the threads of the will tape were fraying/unraveling, so I brushed the seams with a couple of drops of epoxy.  While I would have loved to use iron-ons or patches for the numbers, I didn't have any available (at least in the font that I wanted...I'm a dork, I know), and used fabric paint instead. 

I could see myself making another one of these armbands sometime soon with some minor adjustments.  But for the time being this will work just fine!

-----Update----
I never did make another one!  Lol!  But here's a photo of how I wore the arm band, along with some white and green duct tape over my elbow pad to give it more of that full length N7 Stripe!