The Complete Handbook of Appliques & Patches

Chapter 1: Understanding Appliques & Patches

Appliques and patches are, at their most basic level, decorative or informational pieces of material that are attached to a base fabric. But that simple description hides a complex category of goods defined by their construction, their attachment method, and the conditions they must survive. A patch on a child's backpack and a patch on a firefighter's turnout gear are both "appliques" in a retail sense, yet they share almost nothing in terms of materials, performance requirements, or cost. Understanding this distinction is the foundation of everything else in this handbook.

What They Actually Are

An applique is a piece of fabric, embroidery, or another material that is applied to a larger surface for decoration or identification. The word comes from the French "appliquer," meaning "to apply." Patches are a subset of appliques, distinguished primarily by being a complete, self-contained unit that is typically applied as a finished product. In common usage, a patch is something you can hold in your hand as a complete item before it is attached to anything. An applique, in a narrower craft sense, can be a raw fabric shape that you sew into a quilt or garment as part of a larger design. For the purposes of this handbook, the terms are used somewhat interchangeably, but the distinction matters when you are sourcing materials. A patch is a finished product with a visible edge treatment and a backing. An applique in the quilting sense is often just a