More than likely when designing custom hats you’ll want to consider embroidery, specifically embroidered patches. You know, those patches on the side arm of uniforms like military garments or sports teams.
Embroidered patches on hats serve a few purposes: brand placement and uniqueness. These detailed patches from BrandSick allow a company or brand to express their brand identity in a subliminal manner but also differentiate itself from competition or simply, other custom hats. Make sure to read our tips on custom hat embroidery and get some extra insight into the process!
Some of the most common hats that include embroidered patch work are trucker hats, baseball hats and dad hats.
Let’s cut to the chase. You got some new blank hats, maybe corduroy hats from Delusion MFG. But you also have some embroidered patches that you want to attach to some of those amazing blank hats, but how?
Easy, here’s how.
Applying embroidered patches to your blank hats is simple. There are 3 different ways you can achieve this: gluing, hot ironing and sewing. Each method is successively better than the one before in terms of durability.
Let’s go through each method of applying embroidered patches in detail below.
How to glue embroidered patches on hats
Let’s start off with the easiest way out of three. Obtain glue or fabric glue form your local retailer (or Amazon) and simply squeeze a layer of glue onto the backside of the embroidered patch. Place firmly on the custom hat and hold for 30 seconds or more. Done.
As you can tell it is very tempting to use adhesives to apply your embroidered patch in order to save time and effort. Unfortunately, being fast and easy comes at a price.
Using adhesives like glue or hot glue is only good as a temporary solution. Using glue will weaken your hat’s fabric and eventually it will rip apart. At this point, some of you might be thinking about fabric glue. The answer to that is simple: fabric glue won’t work on every piece of fabric, especially slick ones.
And after a couple of washes, the glue is bound to melt away before it’s too late.
How to hot iron embroidered patches on hats
Ironing on a patch is not that hard. Well it’s harder and more time-consuming than using glue but the upside is that chances of your patch standing the test of time is way higher. But before we get on with how you iron on an embroidered patch on custom hats, it must be warned that before you use an iron, you must make sure that the fabric of your hat won’t be damaged by heat or doesn’t have high elasticity.
With that out of the way, let’s proceed.
First off, your custom hat should be placed on a flat and heat-resistant surface. All you need to do now is to place your embroidered patch on the right spot and heat the iron to its highest available setting. (Don’t burn yourself now).
Make sure the steam setting is off and your hot iron isn’t full of water. Then, place a thin towel over the patch for protection and be careful not to move the patch from the position you settled it.
When the hot iron is heated enough, press it on the patch firmly for 10 to 15 seconds.
Lastly, remove the iron and the towel and allow the patch to cool off before handling or using it.
Very much like gluing a patch, this method is not completely foolproof since the patch will come off if the hat is washed frequently. We suggest that you do not wash it more than necessary and if you have to, wash it with your hands using cool water. You can use a washing machine but be sure to turn your hat inside out before you start the process.
We made sure to include all necessary steps and make it easy for you to hot iron patches on your hats. However guys from BrandSick made a detailed guide on this topic, check it out if you’d like to know more!
How to sew embroidered patches on hats
Sewing is the most preserving and permanent solution to put customized patches on your hats.
There are two ways of going about sewing an embroidered patch to a hat.
- Hand sew
- Sewing machine
With the latter, you can rest assured as it will withstand washes better than any other method explained above.
Similar to the ironing method, you first need to find your preferred position for the patch but this time around, secure it with two pins or more on the fabric of your hat. Place the pins in the center of the patch or any other part of it that won’t get in your way of sewing later on. If you are not a fan of using pins you can also use small amounts of washable glue to secure your patch. After you’re done with securing the position, make sure to turn your hat inside out. Now that all these steps have been taken care of, you have to choose one of the two mentioned methods of sewing.
If you’re sewing with hands, use a heavy-duty needle because the fabric of hats are usually dense and thick. Choose an appropriate color for thread and start going through the cap with the needle and work your way around the patch and continue until you reach the starting point. When you reach that point, simply tie the thread in a knot and you’re done.
If you’re sewing with a sewing machine, you also need to use a heavy-duty needle. Set your machine to zig-zag setting. This setting is basically designated for sewing embroidered patches. Use the narrowest zigzag possible because patches are typically small and you’ll need to make sure the stitches are not too obvious to the eye. Now like the hand sewing method, start sewing around the edges of the patch and when you reach the starting point, your job is finished.
Where can I get my embroidered patches for my hats?
Here at Delusion MFG we offer services like creating custom embroidered hats. Many of our customers enjoy this service, especially the ones that design custom hats for their own companies.
To get custom embroidered patches at best prices you should visit Brand Sick and check out their amazing offers!
Each custom designed hat is crafted with care and the highest quality of fabrics. We’re able to create full custom hats down to the choice of fabric and even how much paneling you’d like. (If you want a hat with 6 panels using cotton twill fabric, we’ve got you covered).
Reach out to one of our reps within the chat on our site or give us some project details here.
