When it comes to clothing, one of the best ways to improve how they look is to apply embroidered patches. There are various reasons why embroidered patches are applied to clothing such as to identify with a particular group, to let others know about something that you believe in or to show support for a particular individual or event; no matter the reason, adding embroidered patches to clothing can really give them a certain appeal. But when it comes to actually washing that piece of clothing, you may end up with a number of problems. Not only will you have to think about the washing instructions for the item of clothing, you will also have to bear in mind, the washing instructions for embroidered patches.
There are a number of cleaning products that should not be used with embroidered patches and probably the most damaging of all would be chlorine bleach. Because chlorine is so caustic, it will start to wear away the fibers and threads of the material. 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.
You will Notice Broken Threads and Colors That Have Faded
You will be significantly reducing the life of your embroidered patches by washing them in chlorine bleach. 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.
If you absolutely must use bleach, a non-chlorine-based product is much better. Non-chlorine bleaches give you much of the same benefits as chlorine products yet without the harmful effects on fabrics and threads. Some people will say that non-chlorine bleach does not give the same brightness that chlorine bleach does but the truth is that it will still provide better results than if you just chose not to use bleach at all. Just be sure to follow the directions on your bleach packaging to ensure you’re using the product correctly. Non-chlorine bleach should have no effect on your embroidered patches.
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 arrived the gold was too bright, causing an unacceptable contrast between the two colors. You can use chlorine bleach to soften the gold border before you attach the patches to the shirts.
You can use a small craft paint brush to do this. Simply brush the chlorine across the border, being careful not to get any on other parts of the patch. Once the color is as you want it, you should run the patch under cold water so that you could neutralize the bleaching action and wash away any excess bleach. After the patch dries it’s ready to be attached.
