Make Your Own Decorative Patches With Cross
Stitch

From LoveToKnow Crafts

Why Patches?

When I was in high school, patches featuring rock, punk and heavy metal bands were all the rage. Kids stitched them on to their backpacks like badges of coolness. While the trend has died down over the years, you can still find similar patches at stores like Hot Topic, but you don't have to be a metalhead to enjoy a good patch. You can dress up a pair of jeans, cover a hole or show off your achievements. The best part is, personalized patches are surprisingly easy to make if you can cross stitch.

Now, by its very nature, cross stitch isn't going to produce the tight, exact lines of an embroidered patch. But cross stitched patches have their own charm and they have the added advantage of being created exactly to your specifications.

At the risk of sounding like the biggest dork ever, let me share with you how I came up with the idea for this project. During the aforementioned high school years when band patches were everywhere, one of my friends declared that she wanted to show her loyalty for classical music the same way that everyone else could say that they loved Nirvana. I had been trying a bit of cross stitch, and I thought I just might have the solution to her problem. I used waste canvas to stitch the name of a composer on to a piece of felt and a patch was born. She promptly sewed it on her backpack and proudly displayed her love of Dvorák for the rest of the year.

Creating a Cross Stitch Patch

Supplies

Piece of felt
Cross stitch chart of your choice
Waste canvas
Embroidery floss
Needle - You will need a needle strong and sharp enough to stitch through the felt.
Scissors
Embroidery loom, if desired

Procedure

Pick your design. You'll want something simple and not too large. You may find a standalone design that you like, or you may wish to choose a piece from a larger cross stitch chart. If you'd like to follow my lead and stitch a patch that features a word or name, simply decide on your favorite alphabet and combine the letters.

Start with a piece of felt several inches larger on each side than you wish the finished product to be. The more fabric you have to hold or place in your embroidery loom, the easier it will be to stitch.

Cut a piece of waste canvas slightly larger than the area of your design. You should have some extra on each side, but it's not necessary to have as much extra waste canvas as it is to have extra felt. Attach the waste canvas to the felt with small stitches in each corner.

Stitch your design on the waste canvas grid, being careful to keep the fabric straight as you stitch.

When you've finished your cross stitch design, cut away the sides of the waste canvas and pull out the threads. Your stitches will remain, stitched directly into the felt.

Trim the felt close to the edges of the design, leaving a small border. Be careful not to cut so close that you nick a stitch.

While I've never tried it, you might want to experiment with fabric stiffeners if you would like your homemade patch to feel more like a machine-made patch.