Where do you get the machine to make the patches? What’s the process?
I’m not a patch maker, but I found this thread on Slashdot where someone asked about the same thing:
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/12/2036232
Unfortunately they didn’t get much assistance, but there’s some links at the end.
They did say that the machines used to do it professionally are hideously expensive. But there are also home machines that can sew patterns, one color at a time. This fellow here wanted to know which of those machines was best and how to convert images to the format. The answer he got was that making a pattern is something you really need to do by hand, Presumably there is some program for creating these special instruction sets in a cad-like manner.
Any machine that can do this is probably gonna run you at least a couple hundred dollars, probably more, and the professional ones will run in the thousands.
The folks selling patches probably have access to professional machines already as part of their business, which is why they can sell them cheaply.
You might try finding an embroidery cart at a mall and asking if they can make custom patterns for you based on images you provide. And if what you’re looking for is a custome nametag, you can find those on ebay pretty often.
Here are some:
http://www.brother-usa.com/HomeSewing/ProductList.aspx?cat=embroidery&WT.svl=EmbroideryTopNav
Expect to blow atleast $1000 if not several thousand more for a good one.
Some slightly smaller, and basic ones can be had for less.
I went looking for a good machine to do these type of things. Only good ones I could find were about $5000 USD
I have read on this site you can use t-shirt transfers and put them on canvas and use that as a patch. does that work all that well?
I don’t see why not.
Heck, in the movie I always thought the patches in many scenes, particularly the arm patch, looked like iron-ons.
I wouldn’t use any material that has too much texture to it though.
Good. I want to use that method to make patches for my friends. and I plan to buy some Keds (Mr. Rogers shoes) paint them most black then have th etongue be white and use the transfers to put a gb logo on the tongue.
Thanks for the help.
And here I thought you were concerned about accuracy. 
Ha ha well you still help! I realize when alter the Keds I will have to make a patch to sew on to the toe so it’s a good thing i still found out how to make a patch. and I’m going to remove the blue “Keds” license plate type thing ont he shoes and reaplze it with an “Ecto-1” Tho i may change the design up since I don’t buy the shoes to alter until atleast march 2 so it will be a full 3 years since i bought shoes. Since you seem to be very knowledgable. If you were to paint canvas sneakers would you use acrylica paints or fabric paints?
Fabric paints.
Fabric paints will bend without cracking and adhere to the fabric well. Acrylic would almost certainly start showing cracks immediately, and would probably flake off bit by bit as it gets rubbed up against.
Fabric paints will soak into the fabric as well, while acrylic will probably sit on the surface for the most part. I painted my felt kneepads with fabric paint, and you can’t tell that they were colored using some kind of paint. They just look like gray felt. But that’s because felt it really absorbent. Where I painted the normal fabric of the armbands, the paint soaked in as well, but I put three coats on, and by the third coat a skin started to form over the fabric so it looked more like a flat painted surface which is what I wanted. More paint = less flexible, but even with three coats they’re still plenty flexible and there’s no cracking at all when I bend the fabric.
Alright thanks for the help. I can’t wait to get started on them.