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DIYing & Thriftspotting With Wafflebored (And Wade)

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Good morning, everyone. There’s a pretty big game going on this afternoon at 3:00 Eastern Standard Time, if you hadn’t heard. Yesterday, Phil gave us a preview of today’s Army/Navy game, and a review of all the matchups during the alternate/specialty uniforms era. I’ll review the game tomorrow, and include an updated Army/Navy 5&1 list.

Today, I’d like to welcome back your friend and mine, Mr. Wafflebored, who has been busy making another fantastic project in between his trips to the thrift and vintage stores. As you saw above, he took an ordinary jean jacket and gave it an extraordinary orca upgrade using bits of an old Vancouver Canucks jersey. Now let’s hear from the creator himself. Take it away!

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The Canucks navy orca-era jerseys had a very interesting proprietary shade of navy blue, very different from the standard navy other teams use.  Because of this, if you are adding a name and numbers to a jersey it’s tough to match the nameplate.  The best solution is to get a donor jersey and chop it up.

In this case, I had a chopped up junior jersey I harvested a nameplate from.  It’s been sitting around doing nothing but the crest is really nicely done, so I decided it was time to do a DIY.

I got an older Levi’s denim jacket and used the remaining parts.  I decided to fill in the trapezoid shaped back panel, similar to those heavy metal band back patches you can buy.

This was a really fun and easy DIY.  I have some other mangled jerseys so I think I might do a couple more of these.

One thing that occurs to me is how good I think this colour scheme is.  I don’t think it’s right for the Canucks, but the colours look really good together.

JV: I agree, and they go really well with that jacket too!
Next, Wafflebored takes us shopping…

I’m an alumnus of Simon Fraser University here in the Vancouver area, so I’m always on the lookout for jerseys from their teams.  I recently came across this jersey in a used clothing shop.

I wasn’t sure it was SFU but with some help was able to match it to one in the collection of the BC Sports Hall of Fame.  This style was used in the late ‘70s.
This one has tons of nice repairs and wear, and features the “onesie” style crotch piece that has been chopped off.
Very happy to add this to my collection.

JV: Very nice! And now for some background on SFU, here is our Canadian University Uni Watch correspondent Wade Heidt:

This Simon Fraser football jersey from the late 1970s is an amazing, rare find! Don’t see football jerseys made like this anymore. Lots of sleeve, and the “onesie” crotch piece. I would love to see more players like kickers wear long sleeves again. No need for crotch piece to come back though. Of course, if it existed now, guaranteed it would be dangling out of an untucked jersey with the fashion style of players today.

This jersey was a solid, classic look for SFU during their days as a football factory.

Playing American rules in NAIA. Churning out CFL prospects at an impressive rate. Simon Fraser always looked right to me in their red, with blue trim. I understand the recent update to the red and white colour scheme coincides with the name change to Red Leafs for the athletic teams. However, it doesn’t scream the signature SFU look without some blue trim in there.
Simon Fraser switched to Canadian football in 2002. Then, in 2010, the school joined the NCAA. Can’t help but feel in this situation the NCAA membership contributed to the sordid, complicated demise of the football program for the school after 2022. In my perfect world, I would like to be critiquing SFU’s uniform choices in Canadian University Uni Watch if they would have stayed with the Canadian university game. Canada West could use a seventh team.

JV: Thanks, Wade! Now we head back to the store with Wafflebored:

Okay, technically this was spotted at a vintage clothing store, with the corresponding higher prices.

Nonetheless, I’ve long been an admirer of the old North Stars logo and colours, so when I saw this I had to try it on.

It fit perfectly, so I had to bring it home with me.  I really love the collar style on this one.

These Starter Canucks jackets are pretty popular and hard to find, so I was surprised to find it in a vintage clothing store just a few blocks from my house (incidentally the same place I got Jim’s Montana Golden Nuggets warm up top).

It was my size and not too expensive so I bought it.  While this design remains popular here in Vancouver, I think we are past peak skate mania, and the navy orca stuff is in higher demand and gaining popularity.  My own thrift store index indicates more skate stuff is showing up at the shops, while the navy orca stuff I was able to pick up for dirt cheap has now become harder to find and more expensive.  I recently sold a couple of navy orca jerseys from my collection and they sold very quickly to younger people, at relatively high prices.

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Thanks, guys! I’m hoping to share some more DIY projects and Thriftspotting in the near future. Stay tuned!

 
  
 

That's All For Today

I hope you have an enjoyable Saturday. Take care, everyone, and I’ll see you tomorrow for a solo Sunday Morning Uni Watch…with a few surprises if you’re good.

 

 

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Comments (5)

    I’m colorblind with greens and reds, but pretty good on blues. The Canucks’ navy looks a lot like the Yankees’ midnight blue, so neutral that it’s basically black.

    Ditto! What a find, especially with the obviously ’70s collar, happy for you! And your Canucks creation is absolutely mah-velous!

    “the navy orca stuff is in higher demand and gaining popularity.”

    Orca navy uniform had a 10 year run as the Canucks’ identity. I do long for some Canucks’ merch representing that colour scheme as a lot of time has passed. Though I think the Canucks should keep that uniform in the closet forever. Don’t want to see it back.

    There were bad times during that look, but I remember some really good times. The sellout streak beginning during the successful days of the West Coast Express line and the city became really excited again about Canucks hockey.

    Great stuff in this article. I am not a fan of denim jeans (trousers , jackets or shirts) to put it mildly (less mildly: I hate blue jeans with a furious passion), but this jacket now looks very good. That North Stars jacket is a beauty.

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