Picking the Right Patch for the Job
If you’re looking for a patch with a lot of small detail, you need a woven or printed patch design.
We’re not saying that you can’t create a beautiful embroidered patch, but if your artwork has a lot of small text or a lot of different colors making up the artwork, choosing a woven or printed patch will result in a design with crisp and clear artwork.
But which one is best?
It really depends on the artwork you have in mind and your preference for style. Today, we want to talk about creating highly detailed patch designs, and give you the information you need to pick the best type of patch for your artwork.
Woven Patches vs Printed Patches
There are several different types of patches out there, but today, we’re looking at woven patches and printed patches.
Just like a classic embroidered patch, woven patches are created using thread. However, woven patches use a much thinner thread than embroidered patches, and have a much tighter weave pattern. This results in threaded artwork with vivid colors and a more crisp appearance than an embroidered design.
Printed patches, also called heat transfer patches, are not created using thread. Instead, we use a heat press to transfers artwork from a sheet of transfer paper into the fabric of a blank patch.
The advantage of ordering a set of printed patches is that you can blend colors in a design, creating shading and realistic depth. This is the only way to make colors actually blend in a custom patch design.
Threaded designs have a clean break between colors, but there are still ways to create a shading effect in a woven patch. Thread colors cannot be woven together to create a gradient effect, but by putting similar thread colors side by side, woven patches create the illusion of shadows and shading in the artwork.
While it may not have the same photo quality as a printed patch, the level of detail in woven patch designs is remarkable. The tight weave pattern of the woven artwork gives the design smooth detail and bright colors.
You don’t need to put similar thread colors side by side in a woven design. The hard shift from one thread color to the next in this patch design creates dramatic contrast in the artwork, accentuating shapes like the green and white mountains against a blue sky.
This point brings us closer to how you should choose between a woven patch and a printed patch. It comes down to the type of artwork you have in mind.
How to Choose Between a Woven and Printed Patch Design
As we pointed out in the last section, the hard stop between thread colors in a woven patch design is perfect for creating contrast and defining the shapes in a patch design. This makes woven designs great for logo patches or patches that incorporate a company’s brand.
So, if you’re looking for a logo patch or a design with a bright, recognizable symbol, a custom woven patch is your best bet. Woven designs are ordered as uniform patches, custom labels and hat patches that display company emblems.
If all you want is a recognizable design with bright contrasting colors, a printed patch can accomplish the same thing as a woven patch. However, printed patches are usually more expensive than woven patches. The main advantage of a printed patch is having the ability to blend colors and create photo-quality artwork. So, if your design incorporates a person’s face or layered artwork, you should pick a printed patch.
Keep in mind that if you have a photo that you want to use as the design of your printed patch, be sure to submit an artwork file that’s at least 300 DPI (dots per inch). You can think of this as a resolution for printed media. So, 300 DPI can fit 300 dots per inch of space on the patch, resulting in crisp, clear photo-quality artwork. If you’re not sure if your artwork meets the DPI requirements, that’s okay. Just let us know, and our art team can help prepare your design for production. Or, you can check out our blog on how to provide artwork for your custom patches.
Whether you choose a woven patch or a custom printed patch design, you’re sure to get an amazing product. Woven patches offer more detail than an embroidered patch, making them perfect for designs with a lot of text or logos. Printed patches have photo-quality artwork, and are usually a little more expensive than woven patches. If your design has a lot of fine detail and blended colors, a photo printed patch is your best bet.
At the end of the day, choosing between the two comes down to personal preference. If you’re still not sure whether a woven or printed patch is right for you, give us a call! Our sales team is happy to help you figure out the best way to bring your design to life and make sure that your custom patches turn heads wherever they go!
