Old Palatine High School band uniforms get new life

This year saw the Palatine High School Pirate Marching Band take the field in brand new uniforms. The new uniforms replaced uniforms which began use nearly 30 years ago. Band director Carlos Esquivel wanted to immortalize the long standing and outgoing uniforms.

After discussion with members of the Band Boosters the group decided on creating pillows from the uniforms. The pillows were ultimately designed by Booster member Ellen Theis. Theis realized the varying size of uniforms would make patters difficult. With her background as an engineer, she developed the formula which would allow the ultimate use for identical pillows.

"The uniforms themselves were really stunning," Theis said. "I wanted to capture a lot of the look and feel of them as we could. We wanted to keep this as a memento for alumni and students."

Each pillow has the embroidered "P" from the back of the jacket on one side and the ornate scroll on the reverse. The pillow edges are trimmed using material from the uniform trousers. The boosters have been able to create approximately 200 pillows from retired uniforms.

The boosters worked closely with Palatine High School Culinary Arts Teacher Erika Varela to use the Family & Consumer Science rooms during band camp. While students worked on perfecting their performance crafts, the parents worked to craft the collectible pillows.

Esquivel said the pillows went on sale during Homecoming. For information or to place orders visit the Palatine High School Marching Bands website at https://sites.google.com/site/palatinehsbands/home or contact Esquivel at (847) 755-1802 or cesquivel@d211.org.

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