These artisans are threading their Blue Jays fandom into their work

By: Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press Posted: 3:00 AM CDT Friday, Oct. 24, 2025

TORONTO - As the Toronto Blue Jays head into their first World Series run since 1993, some fans are turning their love for the team into wearable art.

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TORONTO - As the Toronto Blue Jays head into their first World Series run since 1993, some fans are turning their love for the team into wearable art.

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TORONTO – As the Toronto Blue Jays head into their first World Series run since 1993, some fans are turning their love for the team into wearable art.

THE SWEATER

Karla Courtney is shown wearing the Toronto Blue Jays-themed sweater she's knitting during the playoff run as the Blue Jays celebrate their ALCS victory in Toronto in this Monday, Oct. 20, 2025 handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Karla Courtney (Mandatory Credit)

As a kid, Karla Courtney spent the summers with her grandparents in Newfoundland, knitting and watching the Blue Jays on TV.

Decades later, she’s doing the same thing. The 44-year-old, who now lives in the United Kingdom but is visiting her parents in Toronto during the Jays’ playoff run, says she wanted a knitting project that would keep her hands busy and her heart rate down during the high-stakes games.

Usually, she knits lobsters (and sweaters for those lobsters to wear), but she wanted something that would take longer. She decided on a sweater for herself, inspired by the Fair Isle sweaters her Nanny used to make. It’s an aqua blue with rings of baseballs and Blue Jays logos circling the yoke.

She’s only allowing herself to work on the sweater on game days. She even worked on it when she went in person to Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners.

That led to a bit of a mishap when she spilled mustard from her foot-long on it.

“I freaked out,” she said. If the game went badly, she thought superstitious sports fans might say she jinxed it. Luckily for her, the game went well.

“And then people were saying, ‘Oh, it’s a ballpark baptism. Don’t worry, it’s good luck.’ That’s the funny thing about superstition in sports. This story could have gone two ways,” she said, laughing.

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THE JUMPSUIT

Bran Pavlovic had been sewing for a few months when she decided to embark on her first-ever garment: a Blue Jays-themed jumpsuit she could wear to the ballpark.

“I wanted to make something I could wear to the games, because I’m a huge fan and me and my husband go quite a bit,” she said.

She looked around for fabric and ultimately settled on a vintage bedsheet from the Jays’ 1992 World Series win. She found two twin-size sheets online and got to work cutting out the pieces.

All told, it took her about a week to make the jumpsuit, which features the team’s original logo: a slightly more rounded version of the bird that fronts the franchise today, with a crest a few shades lighter than the beak, eye and nape. That logo, along with the crest for the 1992 World Series, are repeated on a white background with blue vertical stripes and red horizontal ones.

When she started planning the jumpsuit in July, the World Series wasn’t exactly on the agenda for the Jays. They were performing well in the regular season, but they weren’t a favourite to make it all the way.

Now, she says, it’s coming full circle. While she didn’t manage to score tickets to the World Series, she did wear the jumpsuit to a couple of post-season home games.

Pavlovic still has one of the sheets left, so next year she’ll be able to make herself another item of clothing.

THE EARRINGS

Jasmine Chaos was never really a baseball fan, but when she was invited to a Blue Jays game over the summer, she was all in. Not having any merch to show her support, she decided to make her own.

She made a pair of earrings in the franchise’s signature blue and white. A silver blue jay charm hangs from each, surrounded by a ring of blue and white beads with a long beaded fringe at its bottom.

Chaos has always been creative, but she started beadwork after moving home to Wabasca, Alta., during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a way for her to connect with her Cree roots and learn from her aunties while slowing down from her fast-paced life in Vancouver’s film industry.

She now splits her time between Toronto and Wabasca, and sells her jewelry online and at artist markets.

She made the earrings for herself, but ended up selling them after the game.

“Everybody was hyped and everybody was kind, and nobody made me feel stupid about not being a sports fan,” she recalled. “Everyone was just like, ‘Welcome to your first sports game — I hope you come to more.'”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2025.