Did you know that stitching patches to clothing began in the third century BC? Over the years patches went from slaves using them to a fashion trend. If you are a fan of designing patches to fit your unique fashion sense, we are here to share our top tips on custom patch design.
Read on to learn more and get those creative wheels spinning with patch design ideas.
Colors:
When you are designing a custom patch you need to think about the colors that will fit your design best. In the printing business, the most common color system used is the Pantone Matching System (PMS). Usually, the colors from the PMS system are used by companies creating everything from military custom patches to personal custom patches.
Choose the color you want and the company you choose to create your custom patch design will match it as close as possible with their threads.
Size:
Typically, you want to choose the size of your patch based on the design or artwork you want to use. You never want to put a large design into a tiny patch where you won’t be able to see the details.
Some of the most common patch sizes are military patches, chest pieces (3-3.5″), shoulder patches (3.5-4″), rectangles (3″ X 2″), and circle patches. The possibilities are endless though and you are not limited to just these common sizes.
Shapes:
When it comes to shapes, whatever shape you can dream up, it can be done. Some unique shapes that people seem to enjoy designing include tombstones, shields, wedges, and cascades. You can also opt to add a wraparound to your patch with a rocker.
The rocker can be applied to either side of a circle patch or both sides of a circle patch. Making it look kind of like a banner on top or on the bottom of the patch.
Borders:
Something else you need to choose is the type of border you want. The most common border is the merrow border, done on simple shapes like rectangles, shields, and round patches. A merrowed border uses actual thread to seal the edges of the patch from front to back.
The thinnest merrow border size is 3 mm.
Another border option is a laser-cut border. This option is commonly used for complex patch shapes with sharp edges or geometric shapes. The edges are sealed via heat sealing to help prevent the thread from fraying.
Keep in mind that the melted edge is not easily seen by the naked eye. The thinnest border done via laser cut is 1 mm.
Ready to Design Your Next Custom Patch?
Now that you learned our top tips for designing a custom patch, you can start applying everything above to create the best patches ever.
Did our blog post come in handy? Please keep browsing the rest of this section for our latest tips and tricks.
