How To Sew No Mark Patches

Traditionally, when adding a corner patch, you draw a diagonal on the back of the corner piece and stitch on the line. For teeny tiny patches, the process is to make a larger one, then trim down to the desired size.

The method described here adds any size corner patch, without marking, and without even having to precut your patch!

Instead of cutting, marking, and matching the corner patch, we are just going to focus on needle placement within the larger base patch.

Use an edge guide or laser to align opposite points of the base patch. Add any size scrap for the corner patch and sew.

The farther out you set the guide, the smaller the patch will be.

In this step, the guide was moved 1/4" to the right. So the needle moved, essentially, 1/4" to the left, creating a smaller patch. And since the larger patch is aligned on the diagonal, the parallel stitching is likewise 45° on the scrap.

After stitching, press and square-up unit. That's it.

Here are three one-patch pieces, stItched by this method, moving the laser guide 1/4" each time. This is what it looks like after trimming.

These are the same three patches after pressing and squaring.

This scrappy one-patch flimsy took no time at all. I only had to cut the base 2.5" pieces and set the guide once. Then all the random patches came out exactly the same size, regardless of the scraps applied.

Try this method for A) saving time, B) increasing accuracy, C) saving fabric by using up tiny scraps, and best of all for D) stretching your designer senses- there's no longer any reason to be scared of tiny patches. Enjoy!