Leather Patches with Velcro hooks

Anyone else do this that can share some tips and tricks?

Im trying/trialing making leather patches about 3-4 inches L/W for duty bags/coats (EMS mostly).

Medium thick leather.
I engrave the design then cut a boarder.
Remove the patch leaving the source material as a guide, lay Velcro sheet over that held down with magnets and ignore the design and cut the boarder again.
This gives me the perfect size velcro hook sheet to glue to the back of the leather.
I dye the front of the leather and put leather glue on the back and then the Velcro on.
Put some weight on evenly for a few hours for the glue to dry.

The patches look great, work well on my coat/bag … for a few days, then the Velcro stays and the patch pops off.

I’m assuming I need some kind of glue that’s flexible still once cured, and I probably need to figure out a way to stitch a boarder.

I eventually want to make fire/ems/rescue patches for my coworker and put some up on Etsy to help pay for the hobby.

I’d love not to have to distort my fingers sewing leather.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for your time.
I’m also looking for a way to paint or enamel the letters to add contrast if that’s something someone has experience with too.

Plain velcro (no adhesive) and Contact Cement, also sold as Rubber Cement. Not the stuff in tubes, the ones that come in a jar, and usually an applicator on the lid.

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The only secure way to attach Velcro to flexible material is to sew. Especially for something important like EMS. I’ve never met a glue that held up (10 years in costuming)

If you hand sew you can use your GF to cut stitch holes in both the leather and Velcro.

A home sewing machine can get through PG med leather and Velcro with a large gauge leather needle - they have a diamond shaped tip. You may need to put tissue paper underneath so that the Velcro hook doesn’t skip over the feed dogs.

For either sewing use a heavyweight nylon thread.

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Not sure why you need the guide when you just have to place the design wherever you want it on the velcro to cut it out.

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Ha, good point. I guess I was thinking if I got the power setting wrong it wouldn’t hit the crumb tray and mess it up. It’s a laser though so I once it cuts the material it’s probably hitting the tray anyway. Still in the learning and over cautious period.

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Yeah the tray is metal so you won’t hurt that. It can cause flashback though if you really power through the material but that can be eliminated or reduced by adjusting the power and speed settings, masking or even just putting a piece of scrap below your velcro to absorb any excess energy.

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I do not do a lot of real leather patches, mostly embroidery on cloth or laser safe leatherette.


I use Industrial acrylic hook sticky back for commercial use and I still have to embroidery to the patch because in time it comes loose.

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Those look really great! An embroidery machine is something I’d like to get into down the line. How are you painting/color contrasting the leather?

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All the ones in the image are laser safe leatherettes. The leatherettes are two toned and I do not paint then.