Boy Scout and Karate Patches

My seven year old grandson, who now lives in Colorado, is in the Boy Scouts. On his most recent visit out to us in California, his mom brought patches for me to sew on his uniform. There were the three digits of his troop number and a diamond patch for his tour as a tiger cub. First my daughter-in-law and I did online research to figure out what went where. The diamond tiger is supposed to go on the left pocket in a specific location; the order of these diamond patches denotes progression through the organization. Unfortunately, I found conflicting images and instructions so I took a guess on location and convinced myself that there were no scout police.

One aspect was consistent. The diamond patches are sewn over the left pocket. If the pocket is to remain accessible and useful, positioning on a pocket tends to preclude sewing the patches on by machine with a zig zag stitch around the edges, my preferred go-to method. Then a read a hint that suggested removing the pocket, sewing on the patch, and then replacing the pocket. That is what I did. When other diamond cub scout rank patches are added, I will wing it with a similar solution. Per cub scout advancement rules Cub Scout Ranks in order are Lion Cub for Kindergarten, Tiger for 1st Grade, Wolf for 2nd Grade, and Bear for  3rd Grade. Sewing those patches on by hand is too tough on my fingers, thimble or no thimble. Bobcat is a special category which involves learning the oath and the salute, among other items.

Sewing on the three digits for his troop number was challenging, also. They are supposed to go high up near the shoulder. Even with turning the sleeve inside out I had to be careful to sew through only one thickness and to not crinkle or crease the sleeve fabric. An arched badge is supposed to go above the troop number at some point. That will be like setting in a sleeve I imagine, with less flexibility. I do not think whoever designed the patching locations for the scouts had any sewing or seamstress experience at all!

There was also a gear shaped activity badge but that had a loop on it to place over a button on the right pocket under the pocket flap. Finally! Something simple! No sewing was required. Here is the Boy Scout shirt, all "patched up" and ready to wear.

After sewing on the Boy Scout patches, I needed to sew on the patches for my Grandson's karate Gi. Per a web site karate for kids

The Karate uniform is called a Gi (pronounced ghee). Traditionalists will argue that the correct term is Dogi or Keikogi, depending on your point of view. In Japanese culture do means the way and keiko means practice so calling your uniform a dogi means the cloth of the way and calling your uniform a keikogi means the cloth of practice.

A Gi is relatively flat. Sewing on the patches is easy. First I lined up the three patches for participation in a tournament in the categories of techniques, sparring, and kata (form). I centered the large round one with the yin/yang symbol underneath a praying mantis. In the context of martial arts, the praying mantis symbolizes agility, precision, and patience. The spiritual meaning of a praying mantis often revolves around stillness, patience, and intuition, stemming from its characteristic posture and hunting style. Per Wikipedia

The mantis is a long and narrow predatory insect. While heavily armoured, it is not built to withstand forces from perpendicular directions. Consequently, its fighting style involves the use of whip-like/circular motions to deflect direct attacks, which it follows up with precise attacks to the opponent's vital spots. These traits have been subsumed into the Northern Praying Mantis style, under the rubric of "removing something" (blocking to create a gap) and "adding something" (rapid attack).

The snake on the upper right is from the Rocky Mountain Tournament of champions. I assume it is a cobra. The cobra emphasizes a "strike first, strike hard, no mercy" philosophy and is a fighting style characterized by aggressive, kick-oriented techniques and a focus on offense. Due to its origins in the movie Karate Kid, this style is said to be fictitious. I find a praying mantis along with a cobra represent conflicting approaches and mixed messages; but what do I know?

Two round patches are beneath. On the lower left, there is a patch for for nunchaku, a traditional martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks connected by a rope or chain. A patch for the Yin Yang symbol is on the lower right. In karate, the concept of Yin and Yang is often associated with the balance and interplay of opposing forces, both within the martial art itself and in the practitioner's overall development.

The Yin and Yang are like when my four grandchildren are visiting ages, 11, 9, 7, and 4.

You are excited and super busy when you are seeing them.

You collapse and breathe a sigh of exhaustion when they leave.