How to make badass patches when you can't paint or freehand a straight line to save your life
Materials:
Thin but rigid clear pastic sheets like the ones pictured below
Washi or masking tape
Fine tip permanent marker
Graphing paper
Pen (optional)
Pencil
Scissors
Exacto/ razor knife
Fabric for patches
Acrylic paint
Sponge (make sure it is a small grained foam)
Safety pins (to attach the patch to clothes if so desired)
Step 1: draw in pencil on graph paper, making a really cool design. Know where your positive space and negative space is, and think in your head what will happen when you cut it out. Make sure you will not have any islands that'll fall out of your stencil, or be prepared to mimic those spaces with masking tape
Step 2: outline darker with pen
Step 3: cut out a size of plastic that is equal to your design
Step 4: attach plastic to paper with your tape
Step 5: trace your design with your permanent marker
Step 6: detach tape (pulling it along its line as close to the paper as possible, peeling, can usually save your paper)
Step 7: gently carve along the lines with a razor knife until they are loose (it is best to do this on top of something you do not care about, such as garbage cardboard)
Step 8: carefully carve the corners of your design with your knife until the shape can be removed. You now have a stencil.
Step 9: secure stencil to fabric
Step 10: cut a piece of your sponge so it is a good size for blotting (I prefer 1" by 1" by 2" shapes), and prepare a quarter sized puddle 9f paint to blot from
Step 11: blot the design, using as little paint and as little force as possible. It takes awhile to get a solid coverage, but you will. You do it this way because a large amount of paint or paint pressed in too forcefully will slip under your stencil and produce strange blobs
Step 12 (optional): outline patch with permanent marker to cover up any blotches
Final product:
Don't be discouraged if any of these steps do not turn out as you envisioned them: I've been refining my technique here for awhile. It's something that takes a lot of practice to be good at.
Happy crafting!