Maidens and Patches and Beads, oh my!

Some of you may have guessed what than means, it is Adventure Maiden time!  Daughter and I had a "Teddy Bear Valentine Exchange" outing last month.  This was a dream outing for my Maiden, and to push it over the top we were in charge of beads and patches.

In Adventure Maidens each mother and daughter is presented with a themed patch and bead when they attend an event.  We wear these on our special necklace and also on our formal wear.

Here is how we put together our patches:

First I use a fabric sheet that I can print on using my ink jet printer.  I buy these at Joanne's fabric.  These sheets have a heat activated adhesive that I can iron onto my fabric backing.

Taylor brand fabric sheets

Purple chimp fabric sheets

Next I get on the computer and figure out what graphics I want to use.  In this case, the theme was valentines and teddy bears, so I decided on a bear head.  I did a search on images and found one.  I try my design out first by printing on paper adjusting the size and layout as needed.

I  bought some felt sheets as Joannes in the colors I wanted to use and made myself some templates.  I like to use an empty cereal box  for my templates.  The cardboard isn't too thick and I always have a supply ready to go.

Practice paper print and cardboard patterns

 Once I have all the parts cut out I'm ready for the iron and assembly.  I generally try to do everything in an assembly line fashion.  I'm making 30 patches.

trying out spacing for the patch

assembly line construction

I usually get Daughter involved when I start gluing things together.  I usually use white glue for everything.  Hot glue makes me nervous and I hate the stringy things it leaves.  In this case I had to use hot glue to attach the bow I added to the patch.

Aleene's glue works great with felt

 I added the year to the patch with some fabric paint and let everything dry overnight.  Voila, patches!

Ready for the event!