Oh Hai!

*squeel!* OHMIGOSH..

Okay. so, this tutorial is on...

How to make Patches!

Oh, don't sound so dissapointed.... It's fun... kinda.

This tutorial is on how to make patches, the tutorial I follow was based off of making ghost buster patches but can be universal for all patches.

1. Two pieces of fabric, one white and one black

2. Some iron-on transfer paper (available at Wal-Mart)

3. Two fine-tipped magic markers: one bright red, the other black

4. Some bright red fabric paint

First, let's make the "no ghosts" patch.

1. Get hold of some cloth. Felt is a bad idea, as is cotton. You need some kind of material that has a bit of thickness to it and is not "stretchy" the way cotton can be. If you know someone that sews, ask if you can sort through some of their scraps. Some fabric/sewing supply stores (like Hancock Fabrics) might let you have some scraps, but probably not. You'll need a black piece and a white piece. Assuming you'll make some mistakes, these pieces need to be fairly large so you can get more than one try at making the patches. I got my fabric for free, so I know you can too, if you know who to talk to or where to look. If you have to pay for it, fine, but don't give up on getting it for free.

2. Get some iron-on transfer paper. This is the most expensive part. This is the paper that you can print an image on, then iron it onto a shirt or other piece of clothing. All you really need is a piece or two, so maybe you can bum one off a friend. (If they're nice enough to do this, offer them a finished patch in return. People really dig those things.) However, I reccomend having a pack of this special paper all to yourself, so break down and buy some. It should run about $6 at Wal-Mart, maybe more if you want to shop someplace else. It's been about 4 years since I bought a pack of this paper so I'm not really positive on the cost. I do know that it's cheaper than just buying a patch, and with 10 sheets of paper you can make a million patches of whatever you want. Anyway...

3. Get on the internet and find a good shot of the Ghostbusters logo. Save the image to your computer and open it in Microsoft Paint or your image editing program of choice. You'll almost certainly have to play with the size, so tinker with it until it's as big or small as you want it. (The logo patches Hot Topic sells always seemed a bit too small to me, so it was nice to make a patch exactly the size I wanted.) To make sure you've got the size right, print off the logo onto regular paper, cut it out, then use Scotch tape to attatch it to the sleeve of your flight suit. You'll know right away if you need to make it bigger or smaller. Once you get it to the correct size, you'll need to invert the image. This means you'll need to make a mirror image of the logo, then save it.

4. Using the iron-on paper this time, print out the inverted logo. Configure your printer to put the logo in the corner of the paper so you won't waste any when you cut it out.

5. Following the directions that come with the paper, iron the logo onto your white cloth. Follow the directions, or it'll screw up the look of the patch. When you peel away the paper, the patch will probably look a bit faded and the color may be darker in some places but too light in others. Time for step 6.

6. Take the magic markers (Sharpies, felt tip pens, whatever) and touch up the colors on the patches. DO NOT use a dark red marker, as this will create a nasty brownish color! Use broad tip markers for filling in the larger red areas, and the tip of a regular Sharpie is fine for doing the black outline of the logo. For doing the smaller black lines and the details on the ghost's face, use a fine tip. Many of you probably have the required markers or pens lying in a drawer someplace. Be careful not to apply too much ink, otherwise the cloth will soak it up and make little blobs of ink. Not good!

7. Cut the logos out of the white material. You're probably wondering why I didn't say to just iron the logo directly onto the sleeve of the flight suit. Well, for starters, iron-on transfers leave a clear, crusty coat around whatever they're ironed onto. This looks bad. Also, if you mess up and iron it onto the wrong place, you're screwed. With sew-on patches, if you make a mistake you can just cut out the stitches and try again.

I hope that this tutorial is helpful!