Team colours: A cheap way to tell your teams apart!

As some of you may know, I play basketball (albeit badly...) on Tuesday nights. Its a pick up social game at the local PCYC and each week, the teams are made up with whoever turns up. For the last few years there has been a core of about 13-15 of us playing a 5 a-side game. this means there is a sub for those nights its just too hot to run in the Queensland heat, you ate too much dinner before you came or your mobile rings while you are on the court! (We play for fun, not sheep stations!)

This year we have had twenty or so players turning up each night. The PCYC is ok to give us two courts and to have 2 games going on at the same time but we discovered that we can't tell who is on whose team as they change each week! We had been given some netball bibs many years ago and so we had enough for one team - thus making us bibs v non-bibs each week. With two games playing now - we need a better solution and so I made up these 'sashes' for us to wear out of old sheets from the op shop...

Here's what I did...

First I went through my cupboard and cursed myself for giving away all those single sheets during my get rid of fifty things blitz! Then I wandered down to our local op shop and picked up four single sheets for $2 each! I thought that was a bargain.

Then I cut (ripped them actually - quicker and easier, also more accurate for me - but makes for messier edges in the long run) them into six strips. (One for each player + a sub)

I folded the ripped sides in twice and sewed up the long edge making a long hollow tube.

Then I folded up the ends and double sewed them shut - hoping to trap all the raw edges inside the sash.

A few minutes cutting off the threads that didn't get tucked in...

And voila - in an hour I had four sets of  six team colours for our Tuesday night game!

They are folded in half in this image

It only dawned on me later that I only needed two sets - Two teams could've played against a non-sash team each...

I made these quite big as they need to fit a wide variety of people. Some tall, some skinny, some athletic, some not so! If they are way to big, you could tie a knot in one end to temporarily shorten them for that game. I'm not sure what I did to the green one to make it smaller - but that might be the other way to go and custom make them for each member if they are the same people each week.

 If I was making kids ones I would look at making them width wise rather than lengthwise as I have done here

I'll give them a trial run on Tuesday and let you know how they go!

Score card:
Green-ness: 5/5 for using recycled stuff and re purposing it!
Frugal-ness: 5/5 $8 for four sets of team colours has to be some sort of record!
Time cost: About an hour. If you are a real sewer maybe less cause you know what you are doing or more cause you don't take every shortcut like I did!
Skill level: Another straight line sewing project! Pretty basic skills required!
Fun -ness: Good fun making something that will be used by lots of people!