A letterman jacket just doesn’t look complete without a couple of chenille patches. Did you know that they’ve been around for over a hundred years? They’re the traditional go-to patch for letter jackets for good reason: they look good and they hold up well over time. Chenille patches aren’t just for letterman jackets — schools, sports teams, clubs, and band programs use them for letters, mascots, names, and custom shapes of almost any design. Here are five things to know about chenille patches from Awards America:
What Is a Chenille Patch?
A chenille patch is a soft, fuzzy embroidered patch made from a tufted yarn fabric, most commonly used on letterman jackets to display school letters, mascots, names, and awards. Its name comes from the French word for "caterpillar," which the raised texture resembles. Chenille is a large stitch, so it suits bold designs like names and mascots, and it has been the traditional patch for letter jackets for over a hundred years.
Chenille patches are custom made to order, so there is no standard size or minimum quantity, and details vary from school to school.
At a glance, a chenille patch is built like this:
- Yarn construction. Short lengths of yarn are placed between two core yarns and twisted together, which gives chenille its softness and characteristic look.
- Big-stitch tufting. Chenille is a big stitch that works best for larger designs, and it can be combined with embroidery when smaller details are needed.
- Felt backing. The finished patch is backed with stiffened felt, which is later used to attach it to the jacket.
The five points below cover the material, design, ordering, and attachment in more detail.
1. All About Chenille
How are chenille patches made?
Chenille patches are made by twisting short lengths of yarn between two core yarns to create the tufted fabric, stitching the design in a large-stitch technique, then backing the finished patch with stiffened felt so it can be attached to a jacket.
The process in brief:
- Yarn construction. Short lengths of yarn are placed between two “core” yarns and twisted together, giving chenille its softness and characteristic look.
- Big-stitch tufting. Chenille is a big stitch, so it works best for bigger designs. You can combine chenille with embroidery if necessary to execute smaller details.
- Yarn density. Yarn density is very important in creating a good chenille patch. Your patches are not the place for bald spots!
- Felt backing. Chenille patches are backed with stiffened felt, which is later used to attach them to the jacket.
2. Patch Design Is Important
To get the best possible chenille patch, you need to start with a good design. Our skilled designers will know if a design that will translate well in chenille. If the design needs improvement, we can clean it up. Add good workmanship and that equals a great finished product.
3. Chenille Offers Great Design Flexibility
The machinery that we have at Awards America is pretty adaptable. If you can dream it up, we can probably make it into a chenille patch. Name patches and mascots look especially good in chenille, and there’s very little limitation on customizing your patch’s shape.
4. How To Order Chenille Patches
All chenille patches are custom made to order, and there’s no average or minimum order. With chenille, more customization equals more time. Plus, it takes more time to fulfill bigger orders. Chenille isn’t stock, so lead times can grow if everyone waits to place their order at the same time.
When you place your chenille patch order with your sales rep, they’ll double check that everything is correct and consistent. Then they’ll send it in so we can enter it into our system. We can also easily make updates and changes. At Awards America, we can handle any size order, and our goal is always three weeks or less for order turnaround. For more info on lead times for our other products, read our blog post Awards Order Lead Times: What You Need To Know.
5. Getting Your Chenille Patches Attached
We work with a company that makes the letter jackets, and it generally takes around three weeks for them to complete an order. During this time, we’ll complete your chenille patch order. When the patches are ready, we can ship them to you for you to attach if you’d like, or you can have your jackets sent to us and we can do it in-house. If you do decide to have us attach the patches to the jackets, the order takes about another week to complete after that.
Now you know everything you need to about chenille patches. Experience the plush feel and bold colors of Awards America custom chenille patches for yourself. Send us your school’s colors and mascot and we can redesign them or match them exactly. Let us help you create the perfect patch to celebrate your students’ achievements in academics, sports, music, and more. Ready to order? Browse our full range of custom chenille patches or request a free quote.
