Cheer Uniform Design Ideas

The role of a cheerleader at sporting events is to inspire the fans and raise team spirit. Their uniforms identify them in this role. While the design of the uniform varies widely among school and sports organizations, the basic idea is the same: to show support through the wearing of team colors and the unification of the squad through matching outfits.

  1. Off the Rack

    • For teams without the time or money to design elaborate uniforms, choose pre-made pieces from your local retail outlet. Select a turtleneck shirt in the team colors for winter or a tank top for the warmer seasons. Choose durable materials, including polyester. For bottoms, use matching sport-styled shorts made of a stretchy material to allow for ample movement. Another option is to choose a tennis-style skirt to match. Purchase iron-on letters to create the team name on the back or front of the shirt, or order a school letter or name from a sporting goods store. For more decoration, stencils emblems or designs on the shirt and bottoms using fabric paints.

    Homemade Sweatshirt Uniforms

    • Design your cheer uniforms using two sweatshirts in team colors. Begin with two jersey styled sweatshirts, one in each of the team's colors. The shirts need a banded bottom and sleeves and should fit the wearer snug. Cut off the sleeves and the bands from the bottom, sleeves, and neck of the sweatshirts. What remains resembles a tank-style shirt. Cut all the sleeves up the seam and open them up. Arrange all the short ends together to alternate the two colors, and sew the panels together to form a flair shirt. Sew the top of the panels to the bottom band of the sweatshirt to form a waistband. Fold over the very top of each shirt and sew down a seam to transform the style to a tube-top appearance. Cut the wrist bands in half lengthwise and sew end to end to form shoulder straps to attach to your tops. Purchase a school letter or stencil the team name onto each top. This design method allows for two uniform tops for the squad to alternate at games.

    Commercial Mixture

    • For a professional appearance without the high costs, design your cheer uniforms with a mixture of commercial and noncommercial pieces. Select one of these pieces to match with a less expensive non-custom piece. For example, select a highly decorated commercial top, complete with team name and complete color scheme. Pair this commercial top with a pair of simple, plain sport shorts or a tennis skort or skirt from a local retail outlet. Likewise, a fancy ordered skirt with multiple pleats in the team colors can be worn with a matching polyester tank top.