Grimes Canoe Base - Swiss Loom Patch & Punch Card Drawing

In the days before digital imaging and computer graphics the design for patches had to be drawn by hand.  These images were usually converted onto sheets of paper in a 6:1 Drawing to Patch Size scale.  The person doing the art set it up so the Swiss Loom Embroidery Machine would know exactly what the customer wanted.  The above example is one of the last Swiss Loom patches before the computer / digitized age took over.  This is from 1989 and was the Wa-Hi-Nasa Lodge 111 Fall Fellowship Patch from Grimes Canoe Base.  Swiss Loom embroidering is very thick as the layers are laid down by each set of needles.  As more detail is added a layered look occurs giving the patch a thick and expensive feel as compared with todays more flimsy computer generated patches (though these patches have more detail they lack the character of the Swiss Loom style).  


Below is an outline of how this worked.  1) After a color image has been approved by the customer the badge design is drawn on to tracing paper at a 6:1 scale.  2)  The lines of the design are perforated with small holes . 3) This paper is then placed onto the threading machine as a Scan Card so that the appropriate color threading is used on the surface which penetrates the perforations and leaves the outline of the design on the cloth. 4) A large Loom Machine like a Tajima is then set up to process the image from the Scan Card in multiples of 20, 50, etc depending on the size of the machine. The lines and dots on the Scan Card are only a guide for the embroidering of the image.  A look back at a bygone era.