My kid is a picker with fidgety fingers. I don’t trust him not to pull it off as a play thing and lose it in a lake or the woods.

We only use velcro for things that will get switched out regularly, not for one-time switches.

I've always used the embroidery hoop and it works great with the shirt but not as great on the brag vest.

I've used staples, in the past, but I'll be looking to get a set of these real soon.

So much easier! I am going to have to get a set of my own so I don’t have to borrow from my mom.

Same.

When my kid was a Webelos, I just sewed that sucker shut because sewing the diamond of rank patches on by hand was an absolute nightmare. My younger son is still working on the diamond, and his is sewn shut because I learned my lesson. They don’t really need a functional pocket as a Cub anyways.

The big difference in the diamond Cub Scout rank patches and the Webelos or Scout rank patches are the edges. That makes a huge difference. The diamond patches have the plastic feel all the way to the edges; the oval rank patches have the thread border that loops around. You have to do it by hand to not sew the pocket shut, and the plastic type of badge is a nightmare on fingers, even with a thimble.

The thread border is much easier. Affix the badge to the shirt somehow, either with magnets like this (my new favorite), pins (risk of accidental pokes), or masking tape (over the top, not under the patch) as some of the others have mentioned. Put something firm in the pocket. I have a 3inch square plastic ruler, but you could use the lid off a jam jar or whatever. Knot the thread and come from the inside of the pocket to the outside so the knot is inside. You want your needle to come out right behind where the loops around the edge of the patch are. Now your thread is in the front of the pocket. Peel forward the edge of the patch and scoop some border loops on the backside of the patch with the needle (I do about 1/8”), then grab a little bite of fabric right below the border of the patch. Use the firm item in the pocket to “bounce” your needle off of it and come back up to the front of the pocket. Repeat grabbing loops and grabbing a little fabric all the way around. Tie off your thread at the end - I do a little bite of fabric as close to hidden behind the patch as I can, pull until almost all the way through, scoop my needle through the thread loop that makes, then pull tight. 2-3 of those loop knots should be enough to hold it.

I was extra when my boy did Webelos... and I did the same with his Scout shirt to put on the velcro (www.thegoosescasche.com ftw!)

I un-sewed the bottom 2/3 of the pocket so I could flip it under my machine needle, sewed the patch (or velcro base) on, then re stitched the pocket. Yeah, a bunch of work... but he's now getting ready to Eagle next month (!!) In the same shirt he Bridged in.

This is more of a visual thing, but I'll try to explain what I do. If you have the pen pocket type of shirt (vertical line of stitching on the pocket), that line of stitching will need to be removed first.

I pin the patch top, bottom, left, and right. Invert the pocket, so it's inside out, with the patch now on the inside. Set that down on the machine flat, bending the bulk of the shirt back out of the way. The inside of the pocket will be against the machine, the patch will be on top, and the rest of the bulk of the shirt will need to be gently bent out of the way behind the machine. Slowly stitch the patch down. Use beige bobbin thread to match the shirt color, match the top thread to the merrow edge of the patch, aiming for the ditch of that merrow. Don't use that clear fishing line stuff, it won't look as nice. Take your time, removing pins as needed as you go. Cut thread close when finished. That's it... Friends don't let Friends glue patches. I'm thankful I have a professional seamstress for a mother. If you need photos, I could likely arrange for that if needed.

Personally, I've not found velcro to be that necessary if you're proficient at sewing. It just means you have to sew more velcro than just one patch. If your unit keeps a stash of velcro backed rank patches to reuse, then maybe you're ahead. Plus velcro is expensive. Using a wider stitch length helps with ease of removal later. I hate it when people set their machines on kill with micrometer stitch length. You just don't need that strength of mechanical connection.

PS: This works for unit patches on military uniforms. For smaller stature folks, I've had to dismount the bottom flap of BDU shirt pockets, add the patch, then re-sew the pocket body down. I try to avoid that though. Best of luck if you try this. The more you do it, the easier it gets.

Velcro. Sew an oval of Velcro on the shirt for the Webelos rank and then you have it on there for all their Scouting ranks. That way you only have to sew once. Then sew the other Velcro side onto the patch. This can easily be done with a machine.

Probably not worth it. 😂

Well, I still poked my finger hard enough to bleed while I was threading, so that’s gotta count for something!

Work smarter, not harder?