Adding patches to your clothes is a way of expressing character and perhaps even belonging to a group or faith. It could mean a character preference, whether fictional or historical, a story, or even an inspiring quote. Today, we’ll tell you all about how to put patches on a leather jacket and have them stay right in place.
Preparation
The first step to do is to prepare your jacket. Leather is a very sensitive material that’s easily affected by a lot of elements. So, purchase any leather care product and rub it thoroughly into the leather material, so that it regains its soft texture and luster. After that, it’s time to get started right away!
Methods of Putting Patches on a Leather Jacket
1. Iron-On Patches
Iron-on patches are definitely the easiest way to put those patches on. Just position them correctly and slide the iron over them.
However, what comes easy goes easy. Iron-on patches hardly ever stay in place as the adhesive is mostly low-quality, so it wears off quite fast.
Also, if you’re not quite careful with your procedure, you might burn your jacket, causing irreparable damage. That’s why we wouldn’t recommend iron-on patches for anything more than supervised child’s play or as a temporary change of looks.
2. Glued Patches
Glued patches are an intermediate option; they’re not the best, but not the worst either. They’re relatively similar to iron-on patches, too.
When you use iron-on patches, the heat produced by the iron releases the adhesive and allows it to bond the fabric and the patch together. With glued patches, you get a separate container of fabric glue to apply yourself and then add the patch.
Although this method gives a slightly longer lifespan to the new patch, it still doesn’t hold on to your leather jacket permanently. Eventually, the glue tends to dry up and lose contact with the patch.
One more thing is that glue is a chemical substance, so if you choose the wrong one by mistake, it might very well do significant damage to your leather jacket, such as discoloration.
3. Sewn-On Patches
Sewn-on patches are our strongest contestants. With this method, the patch is held down by heavy-duty thread from all its sides. To take it off, you’ll have to cut the thread and remove the patch yourself.
The thing about sewing a patch on a leather jacket is that you have to be entirely sure that that’s what you want as the repercussions of that act will live on forever. One might say that they’ll cut the thread and remove the patch, no harm done, but that’s not the case. The holes made by the needle never go away, so you’ll have the outline of the patch on your jacket forever.
4. Using a Sewing Machine
You can either use a sewing machine or sew the patch by hand if you are an avid sewer who knows what they’re doing.
The first thing you need to do is to make sure that you’ve got a heavy-duty sewing machine that is either explicitly made for sewing leather or at least capable of catering to it. Then, prepare your stitches so that they’re as far from each other as possible, around 32 cm, and make sure that your needle is an 18 gauge one.
Lastly, you have to make sure that the thread is 100% nylon or polyester and steer clear from the cotton thread as it doesn’t react well with leather and degenerates in the end.
Now that you have your sewing machine ready, it’s time to prep your leather jacket and the patch. Spray the patch’s decided position with an adequate amount of heavy-duty fabric glue and place the patch in place.
Double and triple-check that the patch is placed precisely where you want it as there’s no going back. Try to sew along the embroidery line as that’s the least visible place, and of course, end the sewing procedure exactly where you started it.
5. Sewing by Hand
Let’s talk about the other choice. Say you’re an avid sewer, and you want to do the job by hand. You’ll still have to prep your patch by fixing it exactly where you want it.
However, in this case, we won’t use fabric glue but a piece of double-folded scotch tape on both sides to form double-face tape. This will do the job quite well and not leave any residue. When you’re about 1/3 of the way with the stitching, you can remove the tape as the patch will already be fixed in place.
Now, don’t forget about the inside lining of the jacket, which is often made out of nylon. The issue here is that if it’s sewn incorrectly, it’ll crumble and disfigure the shape of the jacket. The easiest thing to do is to unhook a few of the stitches holding the nylon lining, insert your hand, and keep the leather in place while sewing.
When you’re all done, resew the fallen stitches back in place. If you don’t wish to cut the stitches in the first place, then make sure that the patch is aligned with the leather jacket and inner lining and that the stitching is perfect. That way, the natural shape of the jacket remains the same.
P.S: don’t ever forget to wear a thimble while you’re hand sewing!
Final Thoughts
Putting patches on clothes is a great way to express individuality and tweak clothes to suit your own taste. It could be a needed change to a piece of clothing or an activity you do with your children. We hope you’ve learned how to put patches on a leather jacket and that you’re able to choose the suitable way for you.