Making patches - A graphic guide

[mud]

Hi all.
I posted some cross-stiched 'Day of the Tentacle'-patches that I sewn onto t-shirts a couple of weeks ago and got asked to post a guide. So here it is - a graphic guide to your own personal patches. Starring the mushroom gang.

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First you stitch the pattern of your choice. You can never go wrong with a 1-up mushroom.

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Then you cut off excess fabric. I usually leave about 3-4 squares. I saved 3 here but while i sew it I felt it was not quiet enough.

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The next step is to start sewing. I used a ordinary white sewing thread, matching the fabric. Fold the fabric so it doubles up on the back. Try to sew through both holes on the folded fabric. I go across one square on the front and two on the back. If I do larger stuff I might do three on the back to save on time. also it depends a bit on what you're going to use it for. If you're going to sew it to a t-shirt or other fabric later you won't need too many stiches as you're going fill it with more later on. Also depending on what your going to use it for, you're going to want to leave a bit of margin on the edge. I find that one square is just right.

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Then you're done! Place it one a nice piece of clothing or whatever. If you use a t-shirt be careful with the sewing as they are thin and stretchy. Also when you wash it the patch will wrinkle up like crazy. But just pull out your good ol' ironing board and you'll be fine. Oh, you might also want to bring out aforementioned board in between steps.

Don't be afraid to ask question or give usefull suggestions on how to improve the guide or the techniques.
Thanks for watching!

[johloh]

Interesting...nice tutorial!

I've seen where some people sandwich the fabrics together so the original cross stitch goes into the shirt too...then pull the aida out leaving the cross stitches still in the shirt...

but, this way might be easier, especially if you've already stitched something and have no idea what to do with it.

[mud]

My local stitching supply store had some extra thin special cloth made specially to make it easier to pull apart just like you describe.
I also thought about putting the cloth on the inside of the shirt and leaving it, or using paper aida and then dissolve it in water.
First I tried stitching directly on the t-shirt but that was a short-lived, disappointing project.

[nintandrew]

Awsome tutorial, but I didn't understand what you meant by going across once square on the front and two on the back, does it mean you go one square across all the way around the stitching, then go around again but skipping two squares? Anyway, I really like how these "patches" look on shirts, and I might have to try one soon.
Thanks.

[mud]

With the magic PcStitch and GIMP I will try to explain a litte better...

Fold by the blue line

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Then, starting from left to right, sew through the front to the back in the holes marked green and from back to front in the marked purple.

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I keep the stitches on the front to 1 square, to minimize visibility. The ones on the back I vary a little.
You could do them like this as well (getting sort of a Z-stitch going):

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Hope this makes things clear.

[nintandrew]

Alright! Thanks for clearing that up for me.