Hey I want to make patches for hats. I read that Tandy is a great place to shop. What thickness should I use? Also has anyone used 3m material to put on their leather so you don’t have to sew it?
I’m not sure on thickness, but I can tell you adhesive only is so so. My friend had hats made this way and they’re good until they have heat put back to them. So leave one in the car on a hot day? Starts peeling back up. That’s just my experience with them!
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Hey thank you sir! I can’t sew so was just thinking of some different options.
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Many a scouting trip. First hand experience, stitching always lasts longer. As far as thickness, skinnier the better. Tandy has some freaking awesome leather, just be sure veg tanned not chrome.
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Maybe you could attach the patch with a few well-placed rivets instead of stitching. Tandy sells those, as well as riveting tools. Also check the conches, some of them are very cool and decorative.
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Tandy veg-tan leather is what you’re looking for - for hat patches you can go as thin as you want. I find this stuff to be ab fab to work with (and the GF PG settings for thick leather work perfectly - the thin also works but you’ll get string attachments that need to be cut)
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Thinner patches are better I think because they can follow the contour of the hat better. Tandy is a good resource, but there are lots of leather places that are equally good. There’s even several places to get pre-cut patches ready to engrave, and they might be good to learn with versus investing in a whole piece of leather. I know faux leather/leatherette is pretty popular for patches too because it’s so flexible. You do have to be very careful though and make sure any faux leather is listed as laser safe, but there some really cool stuff out there that turns different colors when lasered.
Johnson Plastics Plus carries a really cool laser faux leather called the “Saddle collection”.
They even have a section specifically listed for hobby lasers, but any of their laser safe products will work.
https://www.jpplus.com/maker?fbclid=IwAR2mdwc3MCIZHmhP1z0iXYRd5jeOC943CRr_FYg4YMCWBWUJMWGuzBey7zM
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Thank you for the all the info! Hope you have a great day.
Thank you very much! I am going to check out Tandy today,
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