Badge magic. GRRR!! Teach them how to sew! Don't get me started on the elimination of the sash in Cubs and Scouts, which only makes the sewing harder- a complaint to which the answer always seems to be "badge magic!" GRR!!

Badge Magic????

I ran across a PhD in physics once that did not drive. He had a drivers license but actually driving was something he just could not bring himself to do so he usually rode a bike or made other arrangements.

Sewing and cooking are not skills that a lot of people find especially necessary these days so many have never learned them.

I can sew on a button, or patch a pack back together, or make some crude repairs but that is about the extent of my sewing skills. My wife has a sewing machine though and is fairly handy with it.

OTOH, I am able to cook most things without too much trouble, while my wife is mostly hopeless if she can't microwave it. However, I have slowly been teaching her how to broil steaks and fish in the toaster oven.

I have been doing laundry since I was about 12. I started with a wringer machine and two laundry tubs for rinsing in the basement.

Badge Magic is an adhesive like double-backed tape that can be used to afix badges to a uniform. They can be bought in pre-cut sheets matching the size & shape of the badges for various Scouting organizations.


I like the new uniform, especially for the Cubs. Maybe its partially my nostalgia (basically went back to the style I wore in the '80s ), but I think they just work better. And sewing the badges on the sleeves isn't too bad ... and heck if my mom had to do it for me, I figure its only fair for me to have to as well! And I do sew them ... badge magic seems like cheating to me .

Ahaha I could've used some "badge magic" back in the day...


I think the main reason no one knows how to sew a button is that they don't NEED to, generally speaking. Mass-produced clothing isn't the same quality it used to be; it's cheaply made, rarely has buttons (when was the last time you saw someone under 40 wearing a buttoned shirt or dress?) and by the time someone loses a button, the item of clothing is already falling apart and so a replacement is purchased.

That said, most of my wardrobe is from thrift stores and I've had some mildly-used shirts last up to ten years. Newer clothing? A couple of years if I'm lucky.

Best best is to learn to sew one's own clothing with quality material/thread; but who has the time to do so these days?

How is "Badge Magic" so different then the iron on patches that graced the knees of most of my jeans and chinos growing up?

I will admit that there seems to be a fundamental lack of basic living skills nowadays, but I'm something of a luddite to begin with. I have limited skill with a sewing machine, but I'm better with needle, thread, and thimble work. I have never sewn my own clothes. I can cook my own dinner, balance my own checkbook, change my own oil (prefer not to), and iron my own clothes (prefer to).

The catch is, I really didn't aquire most of these skills till my early 20's when I moved out on my own. Give somebody limited means and support, and they'll pick up life skills in a hurry. Going hungry is a great motivator.

I've sewn a few buttons on my work pants, for some reason the pants shrink until the button pops off then I have to sew it on.
But when it came to sewing on cub scout patches I just couldn't do it in a timely manor. I ended up paying the alteration station near work to do them since we had to alter the smallest shirt to shrink it down to my son's size anyway. I now have the most expensive cub scout shirt ever.

I can imagine a real old-timer reading this and commenting "Back in the day we had to make our own needles from bone and thread from sinew. Kids these days have it way too easy..."

You're a better parent than me. I taught my son to sew on his own badges so I wouldn't have to. I do our campfire blankets but he's responsible for his merit badges. I like the new shirts but he just can't manage the sewing on the sleeve.

I don't know about that ... teaching a child to do something is, generally speaking, better than doing it for them.

That said, my daughter has started sewing the crests on her campfire blanket with a little assistance.