Now that I've collected all those patches, what to do with them?
 

As a follow up to the post about what do you collect on your trips . . . I've got a lot of patches from different countries and I'm too old to carry a backpack . . . can y'all give me some suggestions on what would be good to do with them?<BR><BR>I'm out of wall space so framing them is not an option. I'm not very imaginative so I'm calling on you experts to help me out.<BR><BR>Thanks in advance,<BR>Sandy

How 'bout applying them to a denim vest? or putting them in a display/shadow box (like military medals)?..

~<BR>How about a quilt? If you don't have enough now, then as you continue your travels, start collecting more materials (material itself or buy napkins, etc.)

Being from NYC, I ride the subways and buses everyday, and more often than not arrive at work bumped, bruised and disshevelled from &quot;backpack attacks&quot;, which is what happens when someone wearing one of these things turns around suddenly in the crowdr and unthinkingly bashes other people around them. I have seen this act perpetrated by folks at every age, so I can't imagine anyone being too old to wear a knapsack!!. A Quilt is a perfect idea! Our patches ended up collecting dust in a drawer for years, but provided a lovely nostalgia session when we rediscovered them....

Sandy, how about putting them on some pillows. Find some cool fabric related to travel, and then sew them on top as a border, or sew an additional 3 inch flange at the exterior and put in on that. Large floor pillows in a rec room would be fun. <BR>

Paste them on your rolling suitcase then!

I know exactly what you mean.<BR>I ironed/stiched some of them to my winter jackets. My jackets are more personalized now. They also look great on empty baseball caps.

Sew them on a black tote bag.

These are great ideas . . . I have enough patches to do several of them! Keep the ideas coming, I'm getting inspired to actually start a project.<BR><BR>I knew I could count on y'all!<BR>Sandy

I save mine in photo albums. Most are small enough to just slip into the photo sleeves. <BR><BR>I have typed up slips of paper that I slip in with the patch that have a space for where I got the patch, when, etc.<BR><BR>Hope this helps.

How about stitching or hot gluing them to one of those canvas totes or big beach totes? I actually saw a bag similar to a canvas tote with patches on it in a shop today, and the price was utterly ridiculous.<BR><BR>The other thing you could do is to find yourself a table that needs to be refinished, after you've done the hard part and refinished the table, put the patches on the top of the table, and then cover it with glass (think of how eye catching it would be in a den, and a great topic of conversation too), or else do something similar to what someone else mentioned and make a poster and frame it. Lastly, turn them into magnets -- all you need to do is buy magnets and use a hot glue gun, and put them on your refrigerator.

I LOVE the idea about the table and putting them under glass . . . then I could rearrange, add, subtract when the mood hit me . . . and, I don't have a coffee table so this could really be a &quot;real&quot; project.<BR><BR>Got to go now and think about the table . . . I like the other suggestions, too . . . especially the tote bag and glue gun, even I could do that.<BR><BR>Thanks!<BR>Sandy