Wear Your Heart On Your Sleeve: DIY Elbow Patches
Elbow patches: Not just for professors! Okay, so I’m not going to pretend I didn’t get an eye roll when I presented my husband with his cute little heart shaped buffalo check elbow patches, but I didn’t really get that much resistance either! I think he secretly loved it. I know I did, and isn’t that really all that matters?
Whatever the shape may be, elbow patches are a great way to gussie up an old favorite with items you already have around the house. I grabbed one of his old busted up (pre-approved) flannels and went to work.
What You Need
Materials
- Sweater, Jacket, or Cardigan
- Medium weight fabric for patches
- Cardstock
- Scissors
- Marker
- Thread or embroidery floss
- Fabric adhesive (optional)
Instructions
1. Gather your supplies. You really can make this work with whatever you have around the house.
2. Cut a square of paper and lay it over the elbow of whatever sweater or jacket you are working with. I just eyeballed it, but my square ended up being approximately 5″x5″. Fold your paper in half and draw one side of a heart -just like you used to do in grade school! Cut out the heart and use as a stencil for your patches.
3. I used a small piece of adhesive tape to hold the hearts in place while I stitched, but you could skip this step and just use straight pins.
4. Stitch all the way around the heart to secure it in place. I used a simple whip stitch, but a catch stitch would be really nice as well.
That’s it! Enjoy your super simple sweater upgrade -and as always with sweaters, be sure to hand wash so you don’t ruin the stitching.
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