Stupid patches!! (Vent)

rockin30ish

UGH!!! I feel like I'm failing my first military wife duty. And I thought deployment was a PITA!! FI puts on SSgt next week. So, I'm sewing new patches on one of his shirts so he can change into it after the ceremony (or whatever it is). I can tell that his mom used a machine on his old patches, but I'm afraid to use mine. It's a brand new machine (xmas gift from his parents) so I'm not used to it and I don't want to break any needles. I'm hand sewing these patches. Now, I went into this fully confident. I have a strong needle, I sewed DD's patches on her tae kwon do uniform perfectly, I got this. UUUhhhhh, no. Going through the patch plus the thick fabric of his blouse is painful (for my fingers)! And forget about going through the part of the patch that has the stripes on it! No needle can get through that. It's like the chastity belt of military patches. This is my first "I'm a military wife" endeavor and I'm failing miserably! FI came home last night, took one look at my fingers and said "Do you want me to just send them to the tailor?" No way! I'm not letting this beat me. I CAN do this....at least on this shirt. I think I may let him send the rest out to get sewn on. Especially considering the fact that he's getting all new uniforms (plus blues). No way I'm destroying my fingers to do ALL the patches on all his uniforms.

flyingfoxes

I would send them out to get sewn by a tailor.  But I'm lazy.

rockin30ish

mobride2015 said:

I would send them out to get sewn by a tailor.  But I'm lazy.

I think I'm going to have them do that with the rest of his stuff. Only partially because I'm lazy. :P

kmmssg

I sent ALL of my patches to a tailor to be sewn on.  This girls doe NOT sew!

cokchivette

Oh honey, I know your pain! FI waited until the night before he needed his blues to tell me that he needed his old command patches pulled off and the new ones put on. I was worried about screwing up with my machine so I tried hand sewing them first. I gave up quick and just pulled out the machine and went *very* *very* slowly. I told him I'd beat him with a stick if he dropped it on me last minute again. Of course he did. Lol. I did it and told him it was his turn to make dinner then... we ended up with pizza. That's his "cooking." Lol

kyrgyzstan

This is so foreign to me. MH and I dont eff with each other's uniforms. The one time I sent him to the tailor to get stuff seen on, he got my rank sewn and not my name tape. Um, no. Different branches so he didn't get it.

happyhalfling

I use a leather thimble, it helps push the needle through and then turn it so you can grip the needle better to pull it out. Also I use clear thread. The stitches are less visible. It works well for me. I also have a lot of patience and don't mind if it takes a while as long as I'm watching a move or something.

rockin30ish

Well, I got them both on. They look pretty decent. You can see some of the stitches, but the thread is the same color as the patch so it's not too bad. FI said they look better than 90% of the base's, so I'm okay with that. He actually witnessed my pain last night. I told him that he can send out the rest to get done. Mostly, like I said, because he needs everything sewn on the new ones. There is no way he would've been able to send this out and get it back in time for his official promotion. At least I won't have to do this again for a couple more years.

kyrgyzstan

I just still can't imagine asking H to do anything to my uniforms, and I've never done anything to his. I asked him to drop something off at the seamstress once and it got screwed up, never again. 

Sammy0709

I do everything to both our uniforms but we're both in the same branch and I used to work at a dry cleaner in 29 Palms making me pretty much a Marine Corps and Navy uniform expert now. I do a lot of our friends uniforms too. Screw sewing stuff by hand though. Not happening.

Edited cause I can't spell.

rockin30ish

I talked to FI's mom and she told me what needles I needed to get for my machine so I don't have to do it by hand anymore. Between FFIL (USMC and ANG), FI (ANG), and FBIL (USMC), she's a pro!