Plastic Emblem Holder & Rank Badges

[lovings]

Hi - I'm in the process of sewing on my son's "Scout" badge to a new shirt. Due to an injury, he's going to quickly progress through Tenderfoot, 2nd Class and 1st Class once the doctor releases him and he's able to complete the physical requirements he has been barred from. I hesitate to sew on a badge that I will need to quickly replace. Is it OK to use the plastic emblem holders that are sold at the scout shop for rank badges on the left pocket? Thanks for your input!

[Nike]

Teach him to sew it on.

[Cito]

Honestly, I think the plastic badge holders are a pretty poor idea for rank badges. I would agree that teaching him to sew on the badges is a good idea. At a minimum they are on for 2 months each and that's 8 meetings and a couple campouts.

 

For those badges with the rolled edge, you don't actually have to push a needle through the badge, just run it through the shirt, run through a few pieces of thread on the back and back through the shirt. Once the badge is on straight it is maybe 10 stitches and done. 15 minutes of work and for these that won't be on for long, nothing wrong with sewing the pocket shut. I'd compromise that before going to the plastic badge holder.

 

If it helps, I lost enough weight that I dropped a shirt size and am sewing patches on three different shirts right now, a patch or two each night because its terribly boring.

[johnponz]

Boy did you come to the wrong place to get such a simple question answered. I am going to save you a lot of trouble and give you the likely answers you will get here:

 

1. Ask the SPL (unless the poster is one of the Scouters who believes in the "real" patrol method in which case the answer is ask the PL)

2. Ask the Unit Leader

3. Teach the Scout to sew it on

 

Here is my answer. The insignia guide says that rank badges should be sewn on. That being said, you can do what you think is best. If it was me, I would sew them on, but everyone is not as meticulous about uniforming as I am.

 

If you want, you can use this as a teaching opportunity to teach your son to "be prepared" in the field if there is a situation that he needs to sew by teaching him how to sew the patch. If you do not want to teach him, do it yourself or buy the patch holder. The choice is really yours. At the minimum, I would make him buy the patch holder, but that is only me.

 

(This message has been edited by johnponz)

[desertrat77]

Sewing is best, even if the patch is going to be on there a short while.

 

Concur with the others, your son will benefit from sewing the patches himself. I learned to sew as a scout, and it's an invaluable skill I've used often since.(This message has been edited by desertrat77)

[lovings]

Thanks for the input. Sorry if it was too simple of a question. I looked around and couldn't find anything specific about those holders.

[Eagle92]

I didn't know they had plastic Boy Scout rank patch holders, esp. since there is no button on the left pocket that the rank goes on, unless you got one of the older shirts.

 

Sewing is a life skill that WILL be used by the scout at some point besides sewing on patches. I remember fixing packs that ripped, as well as pants that were turned into shorts while on a week long trip.

[5yearscouter]

I'd honestly rather see the patch held on with duct tape underneath than in one of the plastic patch holders. I'd also suggest an easy fix is to tack the top and bottom of the patch in place with needle and thread, and then hope he gets the next rank before he snags that one on something while playing capture the flag and loses it in the grass somewhere.

[Eagle92]

5 ear reminded me of what one scout's mom did: Velcro. She sewed on a Velcro swatch on the pocket, and matching side onto the patch. Only patch sewed on the pocket was his Eagle.

 

Caveat, his friends in the troop did hassle him a bit. As soon as the new patch was on the pocket, we would joke around and say, '"You don't deserve this" and snatch the patch off the pocket. Again this was his friends and peers. One of the younger scouts tried that when he was Star or Life, and we were not amused.

 

EDITED: 5year, you wouldn't have happened to work at a certain camp in MS which has the staff motto of "You can't fix it, Duct it. can't Duct it, chuck it." by any chance?(This message has been edited by Eagle92)

[Tampa Turtle]

If I had to do it all over again I would make all the Wolf's learn to sew patches. At a meeting. It is a good life skill. I know I never criticize a scout for a crooked patch if he sewed it himself.

 

My youngest learned to sew, by hand and on a machine. I one campout he was sewing patches for other boys for $1 (then $2 as he got tired)each. He made $8.

[00Eagle]

They do make full sized metal versions of each rank that can be pinned on the pocket. Your scout shop should have them. Mine keeps them in a bin right behind the cloth badges.

 

They are restricted items so you need to show the rank card he received at a court of honor.

[SSScout]

 

 

Big Safety Pins

 

Confession: I had used Badge Magic for a bunch of patches and after many washings they started to peel off. Big Safety Pins . And no one is the wiser.

 

The plastic backing makes the patch lay flat and look neat but oh, is it hard to stick a needle thru it. Learn to nick out the needle thru just the bare edge of the patch. With patience, the plastic backing can be peeled off of most Scout patches to facilitate sewing. But that just adds to the frustration.

I notice that all the patches in my Scout shoebox are fine, after being unsewed from the old uniform. Why the plastic backing?

[lovings]

I like the velcro idea. I understand what you all are saying about him learning how to sew. I have shown him how to sew on my machine (he worked on a school project using it). I haven't shown him much with hand sewing. I really wish sewing the patches had been part of something he'd learned as a cub. I will admit, though, that sewing these patches by hand isn't something I'd look forward to because of that plastic backing (I'm with you, SSScout). If we don't go the velcro route, I'll try to have him (and me) do the loop around the edges. It's frustrating to me that kids don't have anyplace where they learn basic things like cooking and sewing (not cooking outdoors) like we did in home ec. I know that is something we can teach at home but with all of the activities they are involved in, time is an issue. There might just be a sewing and cooking class at my house this summer.

 

With the plastic holders, I was looking for a temporary, easy way out. Velcro might just be that until I can get him on the sewing bandwagon.

 

We bought him the microfiber shirt and it has the button pockets on the left as well as the right. I don't know if these are new or not.

[Eagle92]

Actually sewing is a Tiger Elective. 18 Sew a button onto fabric.

[5yearscouter]

I am not that big of a duct tape fan, but it does have it's uses.

 

Someone mentioned I had an old quality unit patch on, so I took the new one and duct taped it on top of the old one very very carefully.

I wore it that way all year and nobody ever noticed, it even went thru the wash that way. finally at a district training we were holding, the SM leans over, looks funny, and then loudly exclaims "you have that patch on with duct tape!!" that was a bit embarrassing, but also, nobody really knew so we went into the discussion of what you do to have a good looking uniform in a pinch and off we wandered for a while.

 

I was going to say that sewing on a button is a tiger elective, so if BSA expects 1st graders to be able to sew on a button, then certainly Boy Scouts can sew on a patch.

 

My boys know how to sew on their patches, but they hate hemming pants. As I watch my oldest walk off wearing his old too short scout pants cause his new ones havent been hemmed yet. I can't complain too loudly, or they'll call me on how my scout pants are hemmed with LARGE safety pins, just a few strategically placed....