Category: Patch types

Collecting

You cannot date a patch from a photograph, and you cannot date it from the design. What you can do is read its construction — how the edge was finished, what the base is, what is on the back — and narrow the field considerably before you ask anyone else.

Read the construction, not the design

Designs are copied endlessly. A unit emblem drawn in 1943 is still being drawn today, and a reproduction can be visually perfect. Manufacturing is much harder to fake convincingly, because it means using the period’s machinery and materials rather than the period’s artwork.

So the questions worth asking are all about how the object was made. None of them is conclusive alone. Together they build a picture.

The six things to record

1. The edge

• Hand-turned or hand-embroidered edges — the cloth folded under and stitched, or the border worked by hand — indicate a patch made before or outside industrial production. Look for slight irregularity in the stitch spacing.
• A merrowed edge, the raised overlock bead, means a merrow machine, which limits the outline to shapes with no inside corners.
• A hot-cut or laser-cut edge — sealed, flat, often with a satin stitch just inside it — is a modern industrial finish and effectively rules out an early patch.

2. The base cloth

Turn a corner over and look at what the embroidery sits on. Wool felt, cotton twill and synthetic twill all feel and look different, and a synthetic base narrows the possibilities considerably. Felt with moth damage tells you something about age and something about storage.

3. The back

• Bare cloth, with the stitching visible from behind, is the simplest construction.
• Cheesecloth or gauze bonded across the back is a stabilising layer used in some periods and regions.
• A smooth, slightly glossy film is heat-seal adhesive — modern, and by itself enough to answer the question for most people.
• Hook tape is contemporary, though it is regularly added later to older patches, so it dates the modification rather than the patch.

4. The thread

Cotton and rayon threads have a different sheen from modern polyester, and they age differently — rayon in particular takes on a distinct dulling. Look at a colour in raking light rather than straight on. This one is a feel that takes handling several examples to develop, and it is worth being honest with yourself about not having it yet.

5. Size and shape

Measure it properly, in millimetres, and record the shape. Reproductions are frequently a few millimetres out from the original, because they were scanned from a photograph rather than made from a pattern. This only helps once you have a documented reference to compare against — but it is the single most useful thing to have written down when you find one.

6. Marks

Maker’s marks, contract numbers, stock numbers and printed labels on the back are the closest thing to a date stamp you will get. Photograph them before doing anything else, including cleaning.

Photograph it before you touch it

1. Front and back, flat, in daylight, with a ruler or scale bar in the frame.
2. A raking-light shot — light from one side at a shallow angle — which reveals stitch direction and surface damage that flat light hides.
3. A close-up of one edge and of any mark.
4. Note where it came from and what you were told about it. Provenance is half the value, and the story is lost the moment it is not written down.

Where to take it next

Construction narrows the field; it will not name a unit. For that you need a documented reference, and the people who have them are generous with their time:

• Regimental, unit and service museums hold reference collections and will usually look at a clear photograph.
• Collector societies for the relevant service or period keep published reference works with documented examples.
• Veterans’ associations often know insignia that never appeared in any official publication, particularly locally made and theatre-made pieces.
• Auction archives from established militaria houses are a useful comparison set, because lots are described in detail and photographed well.

A word on reproductions

Reproduction is a legitimate and necessary part of this field. Re-enactment, film work and museum display all depend on it, and a well-made reproduction is a good object in its own right.

The norm that keeps it legitimate is simple: reproductions are described as reproductions, at every point of sale and in every collection record. A patch sold as original when the seller knows otherwise is fraud, and a patch recorded honestly loses nothing.

Related: how patches are constructed covers the manufacturing methods in detail, and displaying a patch collection covers mounting and storage that will not damage what you have identified.

Common questions

Specification

Patch size is quoted in a way that surprises most people the first time: not by area, and not by the longest edge, but by the average of height and width. Two quotes for “a 4 inch patch” can describe quite different objects.

How suppliers measure a patch

The convention across most of the trade is to average the two dimensions. It is not an attempt to confuse anyone — it exists because stitch count, which is what actually drives cost, tracks the average dimension more closely than it tracks either edge on its own.

Two consequences worth holding on to. First, a long thin patch — a name tape, a rocker, a banner — is quoted much smaller than its length suggests, which is why name tapes are cheap. Second, when you compare two suppliers, check that both are averaging. Some quote the longest edge, and a “4 inch” patch under that convention is a noticeably bigger object.

Ask the question directly: is that four inches averaged, or four inches on the long side? It takes one line in an email and it is the difference between comparable quotes and a false saving.

Not every supplier quotes this way, so ask before you assume. Threads Punching quotes on the same average-of-two-sides basis described above.

Standard sizes and what each one is for

Size	Typical placement	What fits in it	Notes
1.5–2 in	Cap front, sleeve, name tape	A simple mark, initials, or one short word	Below about 2 in, drop any text under 1/4 in tall
2.5–3 in	Left chest	A logo plus one line of readable text	The default. If in doubt, this is the size
3.5–4 in	Jacket pocket, bag panel, cap back	A logo with a word above and below	Comfortable for a two-colour design with an outline
4–5 in	Vest panel, small back patch	Full artwork with fine detail	Stiff enough to need a flat panel to sit on
8–12 in	Jacket back, full back	Anything	Ask about a split or a two-piece top rocker

These are conventions rather than rules, and they scale with the garment. On a youth garment take a size down; on a 2XL work jacket the left chest can carry 3.5 in without looking small. Placement guides covers where each of these actually sits and how the drop is measured.

Size sets the detail limit, not the other way round

The most common ordering mistake is choosing a size first and then being told the artwork has to change. It is worth knowing the limits before you commit.

• Embroidered text needs about 1/4 in (6 mm) of cap height to stay legible, and closer to 5/16 in for a serif face or anything with thin strokes. Below that the letters fill in and read as a smudge.
• Line weight. A satin-stitched line thinner than about 1 mm will not hold. If your logo has a hairline rule or a fine outline, it either thickens or it disappears.
• Gaps between elements need to be at least as wide as the lines around them, or the thread closes them up.
• Gradients and photographic detail do not exist in embroidery. If the artwork depends on them, the answer is a woven or printed patch rather than a bigger embroidered one.

If the design will not survive at the size the placement demands, the fix is usually a different construction rather than a bigger patch. Patch types compared covers where woven and printed win.

Size and price

Price follows stitch count, and stitch count follows area. Doubling the quoted size roughly quadruples the area, so a 4 in patch is not twice the price of a 2 in patch — it is closer to four times, before any minimum-order effects.

Two levers pull the price down without changing the finished look. Reduce thread coverage so the twill base carries a background colour instead of being stitched over — that alone can halve a stitch count. And simplify the outline: a shape that a merrow machine can follow is cheaper to finish than one that needs hot-cutting. Both are covered in patch types.

Measuring for a placement you already have

1. Lay the garment flat and square, and mark the placement from a seam — the high point of shoulder, the collar seam, the brim seam on a cap. Never from a hem.
2. Cut a rectangle of paper to the size you are considering and pin it in place.
3. Look at it on a body or a form, from about two metres. Patches that measure correctly can still read as too large; this is the only step that catches it.
4. Check clearance: on a cap, the patch must not bridge the centre seam or run past the front panel. On a placket, it must not straddle the opening.
5. Then convert to the quoting convention — average the two dimensions — before you ask for a price.

Related: where each size normally sits, how construction changes what a size can carry, and how to attach it once it arrives.

Common questions