My daughter, Bridgette, is a college feature twirler for TCU (Texas Christian University). Her first game was September 12. She spent much of the summer having costumes made for the upcoming season, including a gray costume inspired by the gray, red and purple uniforms the TCU football team previously wore for special games such as Homecoming. I don’t think they wear them anymore, however, blood-spirting horned froggy is still around in one form or another.
The three finishing pieces I decided to make myself including the two frog logos and the TCU logo for the front of the costume.
I’ve worked in public relations and branding for more than 30 years, so I tend to pay close attention to university marks and how they are used. Collegiate twirlers, like football players, cheerleaders, band members and other students wearing school colors, are representing their university every time they step onto the field.
For that reason, I wanted the costume logo to closely reflect TCU’s familiar arched lettering while also fitting the very specific look of this costume.
This is Bridgette’s first season twirling for TCU, and I had never made a collegiate costume logo before. I assumed creating one from scratch would be difficult. As it turns out, once I figured out the materials and process, it wasn’t nearly as intimidating as I expected.
Because this particular costume was inspired by TCU football’s special gray, red and purple look, we didn’t want a standard purple TCU treatment. Bridgette wanted the familiar arched TCU letters in red, set against a die-cut-style background in TCU purple and eventually covered in rhinestones.
I started with TCU’s official logo, created a pattern from it and sized the finished purple background to 6.5 inches wide. From there, I separated the design into individual pattern pieces that I could cut from costume fabric, appliqué together and stone.
I’m sharing the entire process here, including the shortcuts, tools and materials I used, in case another collegiate twirler, twirling mom or costume maker wants to create a custom logo treatment for a costume.
Here’s how I did it.
What You’ll Need
For my version, I used:
- An official high-resolution school or university logo
- A computer and printer
- An AI image tool or graphics program
- Red mystique/spandex fabric
- Purple mystique/spandex fabric
- Fusible interfacing
- A self-healing cutting mat
- A precision craft knife
- Sharp fabric scissors
- An iron
- Paper for printing your pattern
- Rhinestones and rhinestone adhesive, if you plan to stone the finished logo
- Hand-sewing supplies for attaching the finished appliqué to the costume
Money-saving tip: You do not necessarily need to buy mystique spandex by the yard.
When I started looking for the right red and purple fabrics, mystique performance fabric was running around $20 a yard, and I needed only a tiny amount. Instead, I found inexpensive dance/cheer shorts on Amazon made from the same type of fabric and bought those to cut apart. For a project this small, it was much more economical.
I was very nervous to remove this logo, however, it turned out to be easy. I used a sharp seam ripper and snipped it from the underneath side. In some spots, glue from the rhinestones had to be gently pulled away from the gray fabric. Luckily, the glue was not 100 percent set when the costume arrived.
Step 1: Start With the Official Logo
Do not begin by tracing a logo from a T-shirt, screenshot or random image you find online. Start with the cleanest official artwork you can obtain.
For this project, I started with the official purple arched TCU logo from the university’s website. TCU’s official color is PMS 268, or #4D1979 digitally.
TCU maintains its official logos and brand information through Brand Central. Current students and employees can access downloadable logo files through TCU’s system.
Important: University logos are protected trademarks, and schools have their own rules governing how their marks can be used or altered. TCU, for example, restricts modification of its official logo. Check your university’s current brand and licensing requirements before making a costume logo, particularly if the costume, garment or finished design will be sold.
Here is my ChatGPT prompt:
This photo shows the special football uniforms with TCU in red. So fun!
Step 2: Recolor the Logo for Your Costume Design
For this particular costume, the traditional purple-on-white TCU treatment wasn’t what I needed.
The goal was to create a logo that would complement the football team’s gray, red and purple special-game uniforms, so I used AI assistance to change the purple TCU letters to red while keeping the exact shape and proportions of the original lettering.
This is where AI can be extremely helpful for costume makers.
You don’t want AI to “redesign” the school’s logo. You want it to preserve the silhouette and proportions of the original artwork while helping you visualize a different color treatment.
Once I had clean red TCU lettering, I could begin building the appliqué around it.
Step 3: Create the Purple Die-Cut Background
Rather than putting three individual red letters directly onto the costume, I wanted the TCU to read as a single finished piece.
So I created what I call a die-cut background: one continuous purple shape that follows the outside contour of the TCU lettering.
Think of it almost like creating a custom patch without an embroidered border.
The red T, C and U sit on top of this purple base, with enough purple extending beyond the letters to create a visible outline. Once rhinestones are added, that little bit of exposed purple becomes an important part of the design rather than simply a backing.
For TCU, use the university’s actual purple as your guide. The official digital color is #4D1979.
Step 4: Size the Finished Pattern
My final TCU pattern is 6.5 inches wide.
This measurement refers to the width of the purple background piece, not three letters individually enlarged to arbitrary sizes.
That’s important.
Once you’ve created your final artwork, group the entire design together and resize it proportionally. Do not stretch it horizontally or vertically to make it fit.
Print a paper copy at actual size and physically place it on the costume before cutting any fabric.
A computer screen can be deceptive. A 6.5-inch logo may look enormous on paper and completely appropriate once it’s sitting on a performance costume.
I recommend pinning or taping the paper mockup temporarily to the costume and looking at it from several feet away.
Take a photo, too. Sometimes proportions are easier to judge in a photograph than while you’re standing over the costume.
PHOTO: Add photo of the 6.5-inch paper TCU pattern positioned on the costume.
Step 5: Separate the Pattern Into Pieces
For this design, I needed four pattern pieces:
One complete purple die-cut background
The red T
The red C
The red U
I created printable versions with white interiors and black outlines so I wasn’t wasting printer ink and could clearly see where to cut.
The purple background should remain one continuous piece.
The three letters are cut separately and positioned on top of it.
PHOTO: Add photo of the printed pattern pieces.
Step 6: Prepare the Fabric Before Cutting
Mystique and stretch performance fabrics can be frustrating to cut because they move, curl and distort.
That’s why I used fusible interfacing.
Before cutting the detailed shapes, fuse the interfacing to the back side of the fabric according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The interfacing stabilizes the material so it behaves much more like a piece of craft fabric than slippery costume spandex.
This makes an enormous difference when you’re trying to cut the points, corners and interior spaces of collegiate lettering.
And remember my shortcut: the fabric doesn’t have to come from a fabric store. My red and purple mystique came from inexpensive ready-made shorts that I simply cut apart.
PHOTO: Add photo of the shorts before cutting and the fabric after interfacing is applied.
Step 7: Use a Precision Knife for the Difficult Cuts
I initially wondered whether this was something I should take to a tailor.
It isn’t necessarily.
The biggest improvement came from using the right cutting tools.
I purchased a precision craft knife and a self-healing cutting mat specifically for this project. For straight edges, sharp points and tight interior corners, the knife gives considerably more control than trying to maneuver scissors through every part of the design.
Lay the stabilized fabric flat on the self-healing mat, secure the paper pattern so it cannot shift and work slowly.
Do not try to make every cut in one dramatic pass. Several controlled passes are better than pulling or stretching the fabric.
Use very sharp fabric scissors where they make sense and the knife where precision matters.
Step 8: Cut the Purple Base First
I recommend making the purple die-cut background before cutting the red letters.
Why?
Because the purple piece establishes the final silhouette and gives you something tangible against which to test the letters.
Cut the entire purple background as one piece.
Once it’s cut, put it back on the costume and check the scale again before proceeding.
PHOTO: Add photo of completed purple die-cut base.
Step 9: Cut and Position the Red Letters
Next, cut the T, C and U individually from the stabilized red mystique.
Before attaching anything permanently, arrange all three letters on the purple background.
Pay particular attention to:
The spacing between the letters
The angle of the TCU arch
The amount of purple showing around the outside
The points and corners of each letter
Whether the complete logo still matches the proportions of your original pattern
Take another photograph before attaching anything.
If something looks wrong, this is the time to fix it.
PHOTO: Add photo of red letters positioned—but not yet attached—on purple backing.
Step 10: Hand-Appliqué the Logo
Because this piece is ultimately being rhinestoned, I don’t need a traditional embroidered patch edge.
The purple base provides the finished silhouette, and the rhinestones become part of the edge treatment.
The individual red letters can be carefully hand-appliquéd to the purple background before the complete piece is attached to the costume.
Keep stitches small and inconspicuous. Remember that many of these edges will eventually be disguised by rhinestones.
This is one of the advantages of making the appliqué separately instead of constructing it directly on the costume: you can work on a flat piece, perfect it and stone it before committing it to the garment.
Step 11: Add the Rhinestones
This is where the relatively simple fabric appliqué turns into a true performance-costume logo.
My plan is to use larger red stones to fill the red TCU letters and smaller purple stones to define the purple outline.
The fabric underneath still matters.
Don’t think of the fabric merely as something to hide beneath rhinestones. Allowing a small amount of red and purple mystique to peek through gives the logo more depth and helps disguise tiny spaces between stones.
Before gluing, lay out at least one section of the rhinestone pattern dry. This will help you determine spacing and make sure your chosen stone sizes work around corners and narrow areas.
PHOTO: Add close-up of rhinestone placement.
Step 12: Attach the Finished Logo to the Costume
Once the appliqué is assembled and you’re satisfied with the placement, it can be attached to the costume.
For a valuable or custom-made costume, I prefer an attachment method that gives me control and doesn’t permanently alter more of the garment than necessary. Hand sewing also makes it possible to remove or replace the appliqué later if the costume design changes.
Position the completed logo using your original paper-placement photograph as a reference and check it while the costume is lying flat.
Then check it again on the performer before completing all of your stitching.
A logo can look perfectly centered on a hanger and surprisingly different once the costume stretches on the body.
What I Learned
The biggest lesson from this project is that you don’t necessarily need an embroidery machine, professional patch company or yards of expensive specialty fabric to create a professional-looking school logo for a performance costume.
Start with good artwork. Make a full-size paper pattern. Stabilize your fabric. Use precision cutting tools. And don’t permanently attach anything until you’ve tested the size and placement on the actual costume.
For this TCU project, 6.5 inches wide gave me the scale I wanted, while the red letters and purple die-cut background tied the costume to the football team’s special gray, red and purple look.
And buying inexpensive mystique shorts instead of $20-a-yard fabric may be my favorite costume hack to come out of the whole project.
I had so much fun working on this frog. In general, stoning the Horned Frog mascot is challenging. The smaller he is, the harder the job. My favorite part is the kite-shaped rhinestones that emulate the HF’s spikes.
Click here to see an uncut version of Bridgette’s college twirling audition video. Better yet! Thanks to WordPress.org I can embed it below.
You can follow Bridgette on Instagram and TikTok. Stay tuned for a costume update. She designed a costume recently that was inspired by a twirler who competed in the Miss America system in the 1950s. I’m not sure if she will have a chance to wear it this year or if she will save it for next season. Either way, it’s pretty fun.
