Patches

I have sewn many, many patches on Scout uniforms over the years.

My son's uniform, my husband's uniform, my grandson's uniform, my own uniform...

Not too long ago I served (again) as a cub scout den leader for 3 years, and I occasionally even sewed patches on the uniforms of some of my cub scouts, whose moms don't sew.

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from one of those moms. Her son had moved onto a different scout group over a year ago, but she had saved my email address, along with a LOT of patches. Would I please, she asked, help her sew the patches on her son's uniform...and her younger son's uniform...and her daughter's uniform for girl scouts...

I agreed to sew patches for her at the rate of 50 cents / patch. She brought the patches and the uniforms over this aftrnoon. By the time she walked out of my house, she had to write a check for $53.00.  That's right, I am not kidding, I have almost finished sewing 103 patches onto 6 different uniforms this evening: 2 cub scout, 1 boy scout, 1 sweatshirt for all not non-official boy scout patches, and 2 girls scout uniforms.

In case you ever need to sew patches on a Scout uniform, here is my secret: use the zigzag stitch on your sewing machine. I used to try to sew them on by hand, and believe, me, the zigzag is much faster, better-looking, and more durable. Do not try those glue things. When they say they work, they lie.

It doesn't matter what color bobbin thread you use. No one ever looks inside the shirt. Change the top thread as needed to match the edge of your different patches. The top thread, when zigzagged, will blend into the border thread of the patch.

Also, sacrifice the pockets. Cub scouts and boy scouts have their rank patches sewn onto the left shirt pocket. If the boy wants his left shirt pocket that badly, he can learn to sew the patch on himself. Do not worry about trying to make it so he can stick something into that particular pocket ever again in the future; just sew right through all the layers and get that patch in place.