Hi, we are New Zealand specialists in the making of custom embroidery patches, woven patches, make your own patches and sublimated patches
Custom patches are used by groups and individuals throughout the world to identify, commemorate, celebrate, communicate, express a thought or emotion (emojis!!), show membership etc etc etc............. there are as many reasons for patches as there are people who order them.
So this is just a brief "how to" guide to the design of these popular decorations
Designing your patch
1. Minimize detail - we know you want to keep adding until everything is there BUT it will make a better clearer patch if you can be as bold and brief as possible. Large text and a bold design are the goal - the smaller the text and the greater the detail, the less legible your patch will be - but if you need small text and a lot of detail don't worry we can still help.
2. Use some Contrast - try to make sure that you are not using colourways that are too similar - the more contrast you have in your design the more eye-catching and clear it will be.
3. Borders - Think about what you want your border to acheive? The border is an essential part of your patch - without the border you really don't have a patch you just have a bunch of sewing that will fall apart. So while the border is essential to the integrity of the patch, it also forms a part of your design - do you want it to define and frame your patch? or do you want it to disappear into the patch as an un-noticed part of the patch? - If you want a frame you will want to use a contrasting colour, but if you want it to disappear you need to use one of the primary background colours or a colour central to the patch
4. Simplicity is key - try to keep your design as simple as possible, don't forget that the patch will be substantially smaller than what you are drawing and allowance needs to be made for the minimization of the art.
5. Bigger is Better - make your patches as large as you can afford, the more space you have the more detail you can include and the clearer and bolder your patches will be
6. When size DOES matter! - never expect an embroidered patch to be the exact size, or shape you have requested. Machine embroidery is not an exact art - circles will never be completely circular, sizes will never be exact to the millimetre - there are sooooo many vagaries and variations in machine embroidery that exactness is completely impossible - if that is what you are looking for then woven or sublimated patches will be better and printing would be best
