Baseball Patches

[illini1]

I just bought a Cardinals world championship patch and planned to put it on my jersey. When I took it out of the package I noticed that it has a hard, somewhat thick plastic-like backing. Is this some type of glue for ironing on the patch or are these patches supposed to be sewn on?

[Chazberg]

I believe the real way is to iron it on, then sew it down. But if you ever plan on removing the patch, just sewing it on would be a good idea. (I've learned this the hard way).

[illini1]

Will it fall off if I just iron it on?

[FiddySicks]

Take it to a seamstress. They'll sew it on the shirt and wont fu*k it up like your likely to do. And no offense on that one, but trying to put a patch on yourself when you've never done it before can massively damage both your patch and jersey. I think that they accually use a high powered steam press to apply the patch.

[Chazberg]

The patch definitely won't fall off if you iron it on. It's on their for good. And I agrre with bucsfan, I personally don't wanna attempt sumthin that's better left to the pros. You could prolly also take it to a sports shop, there's one by me that sewed a patch on a jersey of mine for $5, picked it up the next day. The good thing about a sports place is they'll know where to put the patch and what kinda stitch to use better than a seamstress would.

[Gothamite]

bucfan's right. Spend the extra $10 and take it to a professional. It's a skill, not something you can just learn by doing.

FWIW, in the majors the patches are steampressed and then sewed onto the jerseys.

[hjwii]

If it has the hard plastic backing, that has to come off. That backing is to prevent it from being applied to a jersey. THis I found out when I tried to have Chief Wahoo applied to an All Star jersey and my local jersey shop refused to do it (if you read the lil label under the backing, I think you will find that it says not allowed by MLB or something to that effect...)...

What you need to do is get your trusty exacto knife in your grubby lil hand and carefully score the plastic backing, making sure you cut only the backing and not the patch. Once deep enough, gently bend the patch until the backing breaks, then carefully pull it away from the patch, making sure you don't catch any loose threads; if you do, cut the the threads. THe plastic backing will pull away rather easily from the patch. I will also suggest you go to your local fabric shop and get some clear fabric glue (the exact name escapes me, but it only cost about $3 a bottle) and glue down the loose threads on the back of the back for added protection. Then, as others have suggested, take it to your local professional seamstress/jersey shop and have them sew it on your jersey for that profession, on field, just like the pros, only the experts will know look...

Hope this helps...

[illini1]

Well, I'm not sure if I did it right or not after reading the posts. I'm not too concerned though since it was just a batting practice jersey and not an authentic jersey. I was told that it was an iron on, so I tried ironing it on and it seems to have worked. I was later told that the backing was supposed to come off. So the backing was either glue or plastic that melted to my jersey. Either way it worked. If it was an authentic jersey, I would have taken it to a professional.

[Cianfrocco]

MLB is concerned about people putting patches onto counterfeit jerseys and calling them authentic. The backing they put on there might work for ironing, but I have no idea how it will hold up over time. Also, I am guessing the patch still feels really stiff on the sleeve. On authentic jerseys with patches, you will notice that it bends quite easily along with the sleeve. The glue they use is quite different, and is really just to hold it in place while it is stiched on.

[BallWonk]

I just bought a Cardinals world championship patch and planned to put it on my jersey. When I took it out of the package I noticed that it has a hard, somewhat thick plastic-like backing. Is this some type of glue for ironing on the patch or are these patches supposed to be sewn on?

The purpose of that backing is to prevent you from attaching the patch to any item of clothing. It must be removed before the patch can be sewn on!

You need to carefully heat the hard backing with a hair dryer. Once it is sufficiently heated, across the whole back of the patch, you can slowly peel the hard plastic backing off of the patch. Take particular care with two points: (1) Going too fast, or trying to remove the backing before it is sufficiently heated, will wreck the fabric base of the patch; and (2) When properly heated, the plastic backing can burn your fingers quite badly.

Then, when you take it to a seamstress, make sure they can do the proper kind of stitch. Too often, a corner laundry's seamstress will just use a simple chainstitch, which looks like crap. (I once took a jersey to the best bespoke tailor in Amsterdam, himself a baseball fan from back when Dutch kids had baseball fever before WWII, and even he stitched the patch on wrong the first time around.) Bring an example of a professionally attached patch to show the kind of stitching you need.

[Bouj]

MLB is concerned about people putting patches onto counterfeit jerseys and calling them authentic. The backing they put on there might work for ironing, but I have no idea how it will hold up over time. Also, I am guessing the patch still feels really stiff on the sleeve. On authentic jerseys with patches, you will notice that it bends quite easily along with the sleeve. The glue they use is quite different, and is really just to hold it in place while it is stiched on.

That is true. It is real stiff on the sleeve. I have a jersey that has the patch sewn on with the plastic backing still in place. It's doable, but it's not comfortable.

The backing should be removed (as several described correctly above). A friend of mine does this for a living (does the uniforms for the Rockets & Texans), and he says National Emblem and MLB are real particular about how the patches are used (thus the backing). The reason is the counterfeiting (straight from the mouth of the National Emblem rep to my buddy).

(edit for bad spelling on my part)

[FiddySicks]

I just bought a Cardinals world championship patch and planned to put it on my jersey. When I took it out of the package I noticed that it has a hard, somewhat thick plastic-like backing. Is this some type of glue for ironing on the patch or are these patches supposed to be sewn on?

The purpose of that backing is to prevent you from attaching the patch to any item of clothing. It must be removed before the patch can be sewn on!

You need to carefully heat the hard backing with a hair dryer. Once it is sufficiently heated, across the whole back of the patch, you can slowly peel the hard plastic backing off of the patch. Take particular care with two points: (1) Going too fast, or trying to remove the backing before it is sufficiently heated, will wreck the fabric base of the patch; and (2) When properly heated, the plastic backing can burn your fingers quite badly.

Then, when you take it to a seamstress, make sure they can do the proper kind of stitch. Too often, a corner laundry's seamstress will just use a simple chainstitch, which looks like crap. (I once took a jersey to the best bespoke tailor in Amsterdam, himself a baseball fan from back when Dutch kids had baseball fever before WWII, and even he stitched the patch on wrong the first time around.) Bring an example of a professionally attached patch to show the kind of stitching you need.

Yeah I was going to mention that too. Make sure you show them an example of what you want or chances are theyll stitch it on by wrapping thread (I guess thats a chain stitch) around the patch rather than sweing through it.

[illini1]

Well it's too late now for this patch since I already put it on. It still looks OK. It's a little stiff, but it will work. I plan on getting a World Series patch too. I be sure to take off the backing on it. Thanks for all your tips.

[Greg]

Emblem manufacturers supply patches with two types of plastic backing.

The first type is designed to provide a support to the patch when it is sewn onto a garment. This backing will slowly disintegrate each time the garment is washed.

The second type of backing (Bemis) allows the emblem to be heat sealed into position using either an iron, or much better, a professional press.

[spyboy1]

Removing the backing and then sewing on is the way to get the best results on your jersey.

There was some discussion about patches with "the security backing" designed to prevent you from sewing them onto a jersey recently. I also got some tips from a game worn jersey sellers weekly newsletter as well. I saved them all in a word document for future reference.

I have not personally tried any of these methods yet, but there they are.

REMOVING THE STIFF BACKING ON PATCHES

Boil water in a small sauce pan. Drop the patch in for about 90 seconds. Use tongs to remove it. Let stand and cool for about 20-30 seconds. Carefully start peeling the backing, but only remove less than an 1/8 of it. Then place the patch back in the boiling water for about another 1-2 minutes. Remove again and let stand for another few seconds so it's not to hot to handle. Go back to the place where you previously began peeling and pull the backing the rest of the wayoff. I then place them on a small cookie cooling rack to dry out. The boiling will not hurt the patch at all and is by far the best way to take off backings. "I've done dozens with 100%success".

Another collector says, "I used an Iron to take it off. I put down a cloth on the board, then some wax paper. Then I placed the patch on it plastic side down. Apply heat to the top of the patch, until the plastic on the back gets hot enough to be tacky. Use pliers or tweezers to slowly remove

the plastic backing. ADVISE, the same as the boiling method, you must be patient, it is a consuming process. I think the last one I did took about 20 minutes.

I do this for all patches with the thick backing and it works great and doesn?t damage the patch. If you make a small cut or scratch going across the patch with a box cutter/x-acto knife, then hit it with hot air from a hairdryer while slightly bending it back and forth the plastic will split down the middle and be warm enough to pull away from the fabric of the patch. What?s left is a perfect patch for applying to anything your uni-loving heart desires!

The microwave method works because it heats the glue and makes it pliable enough for you to pull off the backing, but you have to do it before the glue hardens again. I would suggest heating the patch somehow (microwave/boiling it/clothes dryer/hair dryer etc?) and then putting it in the freezer right away and letting it sit over night. This will seal the glue in place before it attaches completely to the plastic backing. Then it should be easier to pull the thick backing off.

[spyboy1]

UPDATE: Despite the fact we all live in this "gotta have it NOW" society, DO NOT microwave any patches! In this day and age, many of them contain metallic threads, and as you all know - Don't Put Metal in the Microwave!

I ruined a Colorado Avalanche 10th Anniversary patch in less than 20 seconds because it has metallic threads for the silver and they started to burn almost immediately.

If I ever get another hard plastic backed patch, I will try a combination of starting with the box cutter first, as it is much easier to peel toward the edge than starting with the edge and risk damaging it, and then apply heat by either boiling it or using the hair dryer. I suspect the boiling method will work best myself.

I did a different patch by starting with cutting it down the center of the plastic backing and just peeled it off with elbow grease and a needle nose pliers, without any heat. It worked OK, but seemed like I was putting a lot of strain on the threads and was lucky to not pull any of the embroidery out. The second one suffered some damage to the edge of the patch with this method, so softening the plastic backing in conjunction with this method should make it easier on the patch and give even better results.