What did your first set of letters look like?
 

(stolen from the DZ forum)

My very first set of stitch letters was given to me by my pledge mom - gray sweatshirt with plaid letters on a white background.

The first ones I bought myself were a grey hooded sweatshirt with pink polka dot letters on a white background.

Unfortunately, I had SO many that I'm not sure I could remember. I think I bought a sweatshirt (blue w/green) and jersey (pink w/blue) at the same time.

I estimate that I had enough shirts and sweatshirts in college that I could wear Gamma Phi Beta every day for at least two weeks and not wear the same thing twice. Then I gave most of it away and have been kicking myself lately (since I've gotten back involed as an alumna).

BUT, after saying that I think I'm now back up to 3 lettered sweatshirts (two from college), 2 lettered shirts (bought for convention) and probably about 5-6 t-shirts (like you can buy at convention).

And yes, everyone knows that the driver of my little red car is a Gamma Phi........

Melanie, do you have Gamma Phi plates? I have a long sticker right underneath my Marquette sticker, and I have a crest behind the driver's side...I've been debating getting license plate holders but my parents say that will be way too much Gamma Phi stuff on one car - so then I decided I might want G Phi B or TT K E or II K E for a license plate itself...

I think I am way too overloaded with Gamma Phi stuff, but I plan on staying involved so at least it'll get use.

I just have the long sticker. I have a different frame and have been considering a new car (for a while) so I may consider a plate after that but I'm not sure.

I really want a plate, and am leaning towards a varation of PKE, but I can't decide whether to do TT K E or II K E. I had this genius idea to do Pi K E until my friends told me they thought I meant I was a Pike.

The technically CORRECT version would be II. TT is wrong (though so many people do it).

Thank you! We had a big debate about this with our "older" alums...we finally got them to stop doing PKE but they all think it should be TTKE. I thought II just looked better, and now I have vindication. :D

There was a discussion about it somewhere and the formal "declaration" was made. I'll see if I can find it (and who said it). The P is definitely wrong since that's really Rho.

My first set of letters was actually my big sis' first set. They were a light blue paisley design on white background on a dark blue sweatshirt, but they were SOOO small (my big sis is about 4'11 and 90 pounds!). So the first pair I bought was a moon and stars pattern (classic) on a silver background with a dark blue sweatshirt. I got so accustomed to the hooded sweatshirts over time and I gave a lot of my letters to little sisses, so now I only have a couple left! :-(

My first set of letters was given to me by my big sister, it was a light yellow long sleeve shirt with blue gingham sunflower letters. I can't tell you what letters I bought first, since I never have...our chapter makes all of our letters. And then generally take them to a local quilt store to have them embroidered.

my first set that my big sis gave me was a white hooded sweatshirt with a REALLY light blue with light blue flecks on a light blue background (yeah its my favorite color...). this past spring i got myself a new set to match the ones i got for my 2 lil sis' (and also cause my old sweatshirt was thrashed i wore it so much) - a white hooded sweatshirt with a light maroon fabric with wine flecks or flower type things on a wine background... its really super cute and still resembles the one my big got me. i went to texas over this past christmas (i was born there) and bought myself a gray sweatshirt with the letters colored like the texas flag! the gamma is blue with a white star sewn over it and the phi and beta are white on top (i think?) and red on bottom - SUPER CUTE!
xoxo
chantillylace

I've always written it as a TT K E, because II K E doesn't seem quite right. thanks for the clarification.

Oh, and my first two set of letters were my house letters, a lovely brown crew-neck zip up with the letters in pink and mode on the lower back, and Delta Delta embroidered on the upper sleeve.... and a black hoodie with lime green and white bordered letters with "Beta Beta Babes" (my idea) underneath, for our pledge class. yeah, that was last year-- I guess we tried to gove the neon-era a comeback.
I still haven't gotten my traditional first pair from my big one.

I recently got my first set of letters: black hoodie with zebra print and hot pink letters. =)

I never had a set of letters while I was in college. My parents had two kids in college and one in high school at the time, so I worked to pay all of my own dues and social expenses. I never wanted to ask for money to buy things because I knew how hard they were working to keep us all in school and activities. A pledge sister wisely urged me to buy the best Gamma Phi badge and chapter guard I could...knowing I'd never buy another one. I'm so glad I did! The pearl and sapphire badge is no longer available! I wore it all the time because I went to school in the morning dressed for my afternoon office job every day.

Sometime after I graduated, my mom bought me a pink sweatshirt with double white letters and she hand sewed rhinestone hearts over the letters. So pink and blingy. Love it!! I still have it!

Was your badge the one with a pearl phi and jeweled gamma and beta?

It has a pearl Phi with four sapphires...no jewels on the Gamma and Beta but that would be spectacular! Last time I checked Herff Jones only had the rubies and emeralds...no sapphires. Mine was made by Pollack. I have a jeweler who has made several pieces for me...I showed him my badge once and he was salivating.

I love the all diamond badge too. one of these days...it's mine!

If you've ever seen an International Council badge...they are stunning!

Yes, I've seen a few of them. :) And no offense to them but I've seen much nicer ones. Nothing beats the badges from the late 1800's/early 1900's. The museum has a very nice collection thanks to our Crescent Catchers. :D

I only asked about your badge because mine has the jewels on the Gamma and Beta and pearls on the Phi and it's also no longer made. The only ones I've ever seen of it were mine and two of my pledge sisters.

No offense taken! Agreed...the historic badges top all. I have been to HQ once, but do not remember seeing one of the historic badges that has a white or other color crescent that is not a Grand Council badge. Do we have any in the museum in Denver? Maybe...if I should be lucky to live so long...for our 150th anniversary members will have the opportunity to buy replica versions of the historic badges. Wouldn't that be a cool fundraiser for the Foundation?

I would love to see the Crescent do a big pictoral article on HQ and all the artifacts there. So many of our members will never get a chance to visit there...and it really blows you away. I can't even really describe it.