Anyways, in Part One we did the long name and Air Force patches. Now we will tackle the little ones, my least favorite of them all. I have to admit that this time around, they weren't so bad.
Now let me introduce you to my secret weapon... stitch witchery. It is fusible web that is cut in 1/4 of an inch strip and rolled up nice and tight. You can use regular fusible web if you have it on hand.
You technically don't need this, but it makes things so much easier. When I iron these teeny tiny patches the back usually stick up like this and as I sew we get into a big fight because they don't like staying put!
To solve this problem, I iron out the long edges to get an idea of where the folds will go.
I turn it around and place a strip of the fusible web underneath.
Iron it for a few seconds or so.
Do it to the other side.
Then repeat on the short ends and TA-DA!!
Now tame the rest of them.
This will make it so much easier I promise.
Now sew them on. Since I didn't show you the pivot in part one here it is. Sew down to the end. Make sure your needle is all the way down.
Bring your foot up.
Then rotate, bring your foot down, and sew down the next side.
Now, if you are sewing ranks on the collar I kept running into a small issue. It's no big deal but this tip makes it easier to sew them on. Whenever I would sew down the long end, the blue embiodery would press agaisnt my foot. It was annoying. To remedy this I set the width to zero moving the needle all the way to the left.
By doing so, I could sew as close to the edge as possible without having to deal with that pesky blue rank fighting with me.
Yes yes yes, sewing these on can be like going to battle but before you know it you are done! I am debating about posting a tutorial to show how to add elastic to the pants so it's easier to blouse them. We shall see!
Hope you all enjoyed your weekend! Wish me luck on finishing this mile long to do list!!!
Now we know why it is so expensive to have patches sewn on. LOL
ReplyDeleteYou need to put Cindy Lynn in the background to make your tutorials more interesting.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your tutes (part 1 & 2). AF wife here also! I wish you had a part 3 for putting the stripes on the sleeves, but I see your hubby is officer. I am going to attempt this with the reg book by my side! Thanks for the write up, there's not a lot of help out there to learn how to do this...
ReplyDeleteLisa
Your tutorial was the most helpful thing I found. I'm a young airmen and I do my stripes my self. Its been frustrating having to guess and your tutorial was a relief. I do with it included measurements though. I just eye balled your photos ( just as helpful) thanks a bunch!
ReplyDeletethank you for this!! I have been sewing my husbands rank and patches on for a few years but never thought to use stitch witchery on the rank! Made it so much easier :)
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for this tutorial. I recently had my mum sew on my officer braids on my service coat, and I figured I'd try to tackle the ABU ranks myself. As soon as I find the right colour of thread I'll be sure to reference this for sewing the ranks on.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the exact placement measurements? Is it 1/2" or 3/4" from bottom of collar? Does the rank just go parallel with the bottom collar edge? Thanks!
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ReplyDelete