I got patch fever, and the only prescription is more patches

November 17, 2019 7:10 AM

For some reason, over the last couple of years I've become very interested in applique style patches for the first time in my middle age life. After collecting for a while I have several dozen, but they're just lying in a box and I'm not sure what to do with them.

What comes to mind are jackets, bags, pants - the sort of things that would have been awesome 20 years ago when I dgaf about anything like comfort or style.

So what sort of things could be a good use of my patches? They are a mix of mythology, pop culture, the occult, mild horror, art, camp, music, and so on. I've considered putting them on a board and/or framing them but that's just lame.

Give unto me thine ideas, hive. Please.

posted by dozo to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (14 answers total)

Best answer: I have one of those roll-y bag suitcases, and for a while I really wanted to cover it in patches from all the places I'd visited. I'm not sure how to sew patches onto a roll-y bag, though, because doing it by hand seems like a pain in the ass.

(I do not care if my luggage is stylish, and it is helpful to have luggage that is easily distinguished from everyone else's luggage.)
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:27 AM on November 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

Best answer: You could use up some of them by picking a bunch that are the same height, and sewing them to a fabric belt of the same height. I bet that would look cool.
posted by Too-Ticky at 7:57 AM on November 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

A friend of mine sews hers onto a blanket.
posted by Juniper Toast at 8:06 AM on November 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

Sew some on the shoulders of jackets.
posted by theora55 at 8:13 AM on November 17, 2019

Best answer: If you get winter where you live, one or two could look great on a beanie hat. Another idea is to sew one on each of a large set of cloth table napkins.
posted by mai at 8:16 AM on November 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

A friend of mine sews hers onto a blanket.

I love this idea! If it's a small blanket--like crib size--you could easily turn it into a wall hanging.
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:29 AM on November 17, 2019

You could pin them to a cork board with sewing pins!
posted by DarlingBri at 10:07 AM on November 17, 2019

Best answer: My dad loves putting patches on hats. He basically makes his own branded baseball hats and has about a dozen different options for whatever he feels like celebrating that day.
posted by saltypup at 10:50 AM on November 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I really like the suggestions. I've marked the ones that immediately jumped out at me but I'm still considering the others, and they are growing on me. Differentiating your baggage is a good point.

saltypup, however, has, I think, the BEST best answer so far for me. Some of my favorites on a few baseball caps and maybe even a few on a larger, floppier fishing hat or something along those lines.

Thank you!! I'll be getting to work now, keeping an eye out for any more suggestions that roll in.
posted by dozo at 11:04 AM on November 17, 2019

See them inside of a coat or heavy shirt jacket. When I was a kid, I had a sailor middy shirt with shark patches sewn inside the cuffs.
posted by vespabelle at 12:17 PM on November 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

Hand-stitching them isn't really that bad. I'd be a little picky about them, but putting a few on a decent-quality nylon bag seems to me to be a nice way to differentiate from the other 300 black laptop bags and backpacks people are hauling around any given tech event.
posted by Sequence at 2:45 PM on November 17, 2019

Apply to reusable cloth shopping bags.
posted by twentyfeetof tacos at 3:56 PM on November 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

Sew them onto a pillow?
posted by sarajane at 4:42 AM on November 18, 2019

I've put some on casual clothes, like the back pockets of jeans and cargo shorts.
posted by metasarah at 6:54 AM on November 18, 2019