Sneaky Non-Solid Flaps
Posted in Patch Collecting by John E. Pannell on October 9th, 2006 at 12:57 am Blue Book categorizes patches using various criteria. Among them are shape, method of manufacture, or usage. Due to how the cataloging process evolved over the years, only flaps are categorized based upon both shape and style of manufacture: “F” and “S”.
A flap is defined as an “S” issue if it is completely embroidered, with none of the background material visible within the borders of the flap. All others are “F” issues. That should be pretty straightforward, but sometimes it’s not so easy to tell whether a flap is a solid (”S”) or not. Here are a few examples.
Step stitch: Step stitching is a method used by some embroiders to give a patch the look approximating that of being fully embroidered, but at a cheaper cost. It can be described as a sort of loose embroidery. the embroidery is not tight enough to create a solid mass of color, allowing the underlying material to show through. In some cases this is very close to solid embroidery and in other instances very loosely done with the stitches widely spaced.
Marnoc 151 and Sequoyah 184 both have used this effect on their flaps.
This one is fairly straightforward once you realize what step-stitching is. In this case the light grey twill can be seen through the darker grey background embroidery. The stitches are not adjacent to each other, leaving room between them.
This one is a bit harder, even without a less than perfect image to work with. Many thought this was a solid. However, if one was to examine the flap closely it can be seen that the orange background stitches do not touch each other, allowing the orange twill to be seen. This one is truly sneaky.
Very nearly solids: Some flaps may appear to be solids but have a small portion that’s not embroidered. The 2006 NOAC flaps from Occoneechee lodge are the most extreme example of this:
The flap is probably more than 95% embroidered. Only a very small amount of the sateen-type material is showing, just to the left of the goalie’s “shield”. Even though the non-embroidered portion is minute, these are still not fully embroidered flaps and are properly classified as “F” issues.
There are several other example of such “Sneaky Non-Solid Flaps”. So if you’re having a hard time cataloguing a flap that you think is a solid and can’t find under the “S” listings, take a careful look at it. It may really be an “F”.
Oleleu 515 had a number of F issues where there was sparse stitching on the water and at a glance they looked like solids.
Just to say is was not the intention of the Occoneechee designer to have a “sneaky non-solid flap,” it just turned out that way.
I ran across one of the 104 Brotherhood issues (S-30 to be exact)a few years ago that utilizes a “modified” step-stitch for less gold mylar embroidery? The OBV s-29, S-30, and S-31 series ran for many years and there are many MVE’s among this particular series. Should we call a modified step-stitch an “F” as it is not “fully” embroidered????
[...] The Nawakwa F7 is one of several flaps issued by this lodge that could be placed into the “sneaky non-solids” category I wrote about a few months ago. It is also one of the very few flaps whose design is considered complete only when another object is attached to it. A large pin (see the Nawakwa F8) is usually placed over the white twill center of this patch. [...]