You could do a wall hanging and put the soft side of velcro in the center of squares. Then they can velcro the patches on as they get them. Maybe do one for the ones they have now and one for future patches.

My son is a First Class Scout and all the scouts in our troop wear the patches on their sashes. I am saving old rank badges and such that are not on his sash for a quilt for him when he makes Eagle. I have a large collection of the Robert Kaufman BoyScout fabrics in my stash for this project. Good luck with yours!

I like the backpack idea! But my boys (seventeen) use theirs until they fall apart (6 months average). Maybe the wallhanging for now would be most appropriate.

yes you can sew patches on a quilt---i have seen recently a few quilts with th applique sewn on after the quilting and they look great---i did the grey blanket 30 years ago for my dsaughter--then the dogs had it--then it was used to put out a fat fire--the quilt would have more longevity

A quilter friend of mine makes jean quilts and puts the patches on each block....arrange them all over with blank spaces to put more patches later

I recently saw a gentleman's sash in a shadow box at his funeral. His grandson's are now in scouting. I think when they are kept in the shadow box they are more likely to be kept safe and sound and when hung on the wall a remembrance whenever looked upon.

The red vest is generally not worn much and therefore just kept in the closet and never seen or remembered.

I personally would do the sash with all the den information etc. If you get a nice shadow box, it can be kept in the box, taken out to add patches and for when needed to be worn for the special occasions.

Try to get as much information as possible now as to when each patch was earned and keep with the sash. This information will be much appreciated later on in life.

Good luck with the patches and to the scouts!

Pam M

I was able to find Boy Scout material at a LQS. You might want to try online as the LQS doesn't have it right now. There were several fabrics in the line. I used the larger pieces each as a block and sashed with dark red BS fabric, the put that dard red BS around as a larger border. The backing was another BS fabric.

The young man I made it for later attached his patches to the border and used it for a wall hanging.

Will try to find the picture.

ali

Thank you all so much for your ideas. One point to clarify, though, is that I'm talking about 'patches' rather than 'badges'. The badges are ones they have to do multiple tasks to earn. Patches are unofficial and given out for something as simple as going on a particular camping trip or an excursion of some kind. It is my understanding that only the official badges are to be placed on the uniform sash - therefore, the red vests that the boys don't seem to want to wear! I'm trying to figure out something to do with these unofficial patches other than the vest.

www.McCallsQuilting.com has a free web bonus for a banner for Scout patches. It's called "On My Honor...Be Prepared!" My daughter downloaded the pattern with thoughts of making one for each of her kids.

Sorry I can't provide a direct link--I'm not computer literate enough to know how to do it. :-D

In Canada we encouraged our scouts/guides to make "camp blankets" Get a square piece of polar fleece in the appropriate color. fold in half and cut a "T" on the fold in the middle. This creates an opening for the head and is now like a poncho - then you can either hand sew or machine sew the patches on. It makes a great poncho to wear to campfires, polar bear swims and extra blanket for the tent.