Sewing on Accomplishments

We don't want to discourage our children from achieving goals but sewing badges onto such things as Beaver or Girl Guide uniforms and campfire blankets is a challenge.

The traditional way to sew on the badges has been by hand. I have seen where some parents are using a hot glue gun to attach them. Scouts Canada is selling Badge Magic which is a very strong peel and stick adhesive that allows you to apply, remove and move any badge.

Thick badge, plastic coated backing

The challenge faced with sewing on badges are:

• difficult to pin
• some are too thick to get the pin through the layers
• if you do manage to pin, it causes the badge to ripple and it does not lay flat
• the badge shifts
• even with pinning, I have found that they still shift and you are left with an unaligned badge
• you are doing finger acrobats trying to keep the badge in place as you stitch

Time is precious for many of us. It is not a good use of time if we sew on a badge only to realize that it has moved and we have to start over; again and again and again.

Last year I discovered an easy and economical way to sew on the achievements. My success rate with ease, positioning and alignment of the badges using the following method has been 100%. However, I have only used this method with machine sewing. I haven't tried it yet with hand sewing (for areas of the garment a sewing machine can't reach).


Method Instructions

I start by selecting the stitching threads. The top thread should match the border colour of the badge and the bobbin thread should match the fabric colour of the garment.

Lay the badges on the garment to have an idea of placement.

Remove the badge, place it face down on a protected work surface and spray the back with a light coat of temporary adhesive (there will be overspray so you want to make sure you protect your work area with a mat. I like to use the washable, non-stick oven liners to protect my work surface).

The temporary adhesive is a product often used by quilters but I find it to be a great product for projects like this.

Place the badge sticky side down on the garment.

On my machine, I like to use a straight stitch foot. You could also use a zipper foot.

Sew just on the inside edge of the satin border. In the example below, you would try to stay out of the light blue area. I have an old Kenmore machine that I use and the stitch length is set at 8 to 10 stitches per inch, the conversion to a newer machine is a 3 to 2.5mm stitch length.

The badge is on. It is secure. And it didn't take that long.

This method is so fast and easy that I have been throwing around the idea of offering my services to the entire Beaver colony and their families - that is 32 kids.

I use the same technique to sew:

• name plates to sports jerseys, mainly hockey jerseys - which are more difficult to sew by hand because the name plates are larger in size and the jerseys tend to stretch and are slippery.
• patches onto pant legs to cover worn knees. 

Hope this buys you back some time in your busy life. Enjoy!