I just traded a few things that resulted in me being able to get a Tactical Tailor "Trauma Pack" in multicam.  I love almost everything about the pack!  I am kitting it out to be a sort of "adventure pack" with essentials for hiking/biking, an extended ride on the motorcycle, or even something as simple as spending the day at the zoo with the niece.  It's got room and organization for some assorted small tools, repair items like tape, zip-ties, 550 cord, etc, first aid, water, food, a change of clothes, flashlights, batteries, knives, writing utensils, and I snagged a couple of Otterbox dry boxes for phones and batteries and such in case of inclement weather.

But the one thing it does not have room for is patches.



It has the one ID panel, but to be honest I have 2 American flags and a Gadsden flag shoved in it in order to make the flag patch shown be snug.  If it was alone it fits so loose I'm worried it would fall out!

So I'm thinking of putting a thread puller to the ID panel and removing it and replacing it with a big chunk of Velcro.  Problem is that the back panel of the compartments have a really thick pad inside of the fabric, and on the inside of the compartment is a mesh pouch, so all together that means that sewing is going to be a total pain in the rear as well as in the fingers!
Does anyone recommend an adhesive product that is easy to use and durable?  My last experience with iron on patches and Cordura nylon was far less than stellar, seems the patches don't survive very long and leave behind a whole ton of crap when they do fall off.  I would like for the panel to be permanent.  Doesn't have to be very flexible, the aforementioned padding in the compartment keeps it semi-rigid.  Does have to be waterproof, though.

I used Badge Magic to attach velcro to a patch that didn't come with it originally and it works great. You can get it online, at a place that sells boy scout uniforms or i think the NRA store has it.

Shoe goo maybe?

You can also sew without putting the needle trough the entire thickness of the fabrics. With thick sturdy fabric you can just use the needle to grab a chunk of threads at the surface of the fabric. Instead of vertical penetrating the fabrics you will be penetrating horizontally. Kind of like a dolphin swimming next to a boat dips in and out of the surface of the water, similarly you will be sewing just at the surface of the fabric. Def not the strongest way to sew but if its just holding a Velcro patch it will be fine.

Take it to a luggage or shoe repair place and they'll have machines that can sew on whatever you want.

Honestly, I don't think that's possible.  The thickness wouldn't be a problem for a machine but the fact that there's a mesh pouch inside the compartment means you'd end up sewing it closed.  It's on the back side of the compartment.


@ Spartikis

Sounds like an idea, but it also sounds like one of those curved suture needles is required for that.


@ oversteer

I'll have to look that up.  Thanks for the suggestion.

I buy seam tape and a pack of hook and loop. Cut the loop to size, iron on with seam tape, then hook on patch will stick right on.

Is the patch really necessary? Seems like a lot of work just to get a patch on there.

No, but since when has that stopped anyone?

Nah just a regular needle, I sew like that all the time. And I sew a lot of thick material including tactical gear as well as hockey equipment.

This. Though I did have a filthy... I mean local sew some name tapes on some of my gear overseas. It was more for identification by others.

After those though, I had another 'local' sew on a small bit of velcro to a bag, which ended up with a Umbrella Corp patch on it.

But this whole thing with morale patches has kinda gone overboard....

Get some velcro from Supply Captain.

Cut the correct sized velcro area you want.

Take it to a local sew shop and tell them to use their best tapestry type thread/tell them to make sure the shit stays on there.

You now have places for patches.