Ask someone in the troop. As a leader, I sewed on more than one patch for other girls. I didn't charge them anything but they usually gave me something anyway. It seems if I don't ask for something, they give me more than I would have asked for. Go figure.
When the one girls Bridged, the patches were already sewn on because I knew the vest was coming right back to me anyway. Everyone laughed about that.

OH yeah right! ME with a needle!? Did you NOT see the reference to insulting Doctor Frankenstein??? HA HA HA!!!!

Ihave asked folks and the ansers I got ranged from ONE WEEK TO THREE WEEKS just to put on a darn 2inch square patch!

And again I am not too good with a needle and thread so I figured if I can get this figured out and learn a sewing machine then maybe I can do the sewing for the rest of the groups patches as well. Thanks for the ideas.

I had 3 boys and 1 girl in scouting. After I sewed everything by hand for the first one I figured there had to be a better way! I use a zigzag stitch with either a clear nylon or polyester thread in the needle and a bobbin thread that matched the article I was sewing on (brown or green usually). I don't think a cheap modern machine will do it. Either buy a vintage black Singer for $30 (not too hard to figure out if it works first) or get someone in the troop to sew them for you. I used to do it for $1/patch, payment made to the troop fund. The dry cleaning companies charge $3-5 a patch!

Pam

What happened to the machine Cathy received after the house fire?

What about using a sail needle. They are have 3 rather large sides to the point that are meant for going through tuff fabric. I use them when sewing denim. You can usually get them in one of those packs with a bunch of odd sized needles that you'll never use.


Except maybe once

I have sewn on many patches (scouts, karate, you name it). A sewing machine can be useful but in the end I found I preferred the time honored method. Doing it by hand using a heavy duty needle, sturdy thread (tell the people at the sewing store what you are looking for, this is not a WalMart type thread anymore), and a pair of needle-nose pliers. My husband used to sew some on as well. The good old "stab and grab" method worked the best. You can really adjust the size of stitches that you need doing that.

Just as an after thought. Did you realize boys outgrow those scout shirts really fast? Don't make your stitches too small. You're going to be moving them to another shirt. Ah...memories...

I use my regular machine too, Janome 6500. I do the same, stitch inside the satin edge. I do go very slow and set the stitch setting on 2.5 or 3. I use an old quilting needle (topstitch Schmetz 90/14) and toss it after I am done. I don't iron it on only stich it on.

Hmm, my mother showed me how to sew on a badge, after that I was on my own. The badges we had in the 50-60s were best stitched along the very outside edge. They had a satin/blanket stitch edge. I did mine by hand.

How about the Janome Sew Mini? It's a great little machine. It's usually about $49 at Hancock Fabrics. It's small and people have purchased it for traveling or to keep in their motorhome.

One other patch sewing tip (have four girls who were/are Girl Scouts) - sew them on with clear thread in the top of your machine and then use thread to match the shirt on the bottom. It works great and the stitching doesn't show on the top so when you are sewing on round patches, just sew in a square around. I have done this for years and they look great.

Meg

Don't use hot glue! I hot glued on my son's patch (one that had to be reused on the boy scout uniform, don't remember which one) and boy was that a mistake! I had to hand sew it, and it was like trying to sew on a stone. I had used hand sewing, and machine sewing and was tired of redoing them. Thought that hot glue was the answer, NOT.