Embroidered patches are a great addition to just about any piece of clothing. These patches can really add style and flair to your clothing and there are various reasons for the types of patch that you choose such as a patch to commemorate a certain event or individual, a patch to identify with a particular group or a patch that symbolizes a view that you hold or opinion that you have. Yet they can present problems when it’s time to throw that clothing in the washing machine. You must remember consider both the instructions on the garment tag and the care of the embroidered patches.

 

One of the most damaging things you can do to your patches is to use chlorine bleach. Chlorine is a very caustic substance which slowly eats away at the fibers of fabric and threads. If you have ever used chlorine bleach to wash your white socks, then you will probably have seen that the white socks tend to get holes much quicker than the dark colored socks that are not washed with chlorine bleach. The same thing tends to happen with the threads that are used in embroidered patches.

 

Colors will Fade and Threads will Brake

 

When you wash embroidered patches with chlorine bleach you will be reducing the life of the patch proportionally. Chlorine bleach will cause the colors on your patch to fade and after a while, individual threads will start to break. If this happens, then there will not be much that you can do to save the patch. You will end up having to buy a replacement patch and then switching it as soon as you can.

 

It is best to choose a non-chlorine based product if you must use bleach when washing your clothing. Non-chlorine bleaches give you much of the same benefits as chlorine products yet without the harmful effects on fabrics and threads. And while it’s true that your colors and whites may not come out as bright with non-chlorine bleach, they will still come out brighter than if you used no bleach at all. If you are going to use bleach, then you need to make sure that you follow the instructions on the packaging. You should not see any adverse affect on your embroidered patches when you use non-chlorine bleach.

 

One Good Use for Chlorine Bleach

 

There is one good use for chlorine bleach in terms of embroidered patches. If we want to change the color of our patches then it will allow us to do so. For example, suppose you wanted some patches to go with your company uniforms and ordered ones with gold trims because you thought they would be perfect with the shirts that are beige. But when the patches come you see that they do not look good with the uniform because the trim is much too bright. If you want to tone down the gold trim before adding the patches to the uniforms, you could use chlorine bleach.

 

In order to do this, you would need to use a small craft paint brush. By using this small brush, you could apply the chlorine around the border while making sure that it did not come into contact with any other parts of the patch. Any excess bleach can be washed away with cold water once you have the desired color. After the patch dries it’s ready to be attached.