Some Facts about Crest Making

Here I am again foisting my research on you in its formative stages. Again I ask that any help you might have for me would be appreciated. I got most of my information from a local businessman whose family has a long history in sportswear and cresting in Edmonton. I thank him much for this and will acknowledge him personally when I have his permission to use his name. Here is the Reader's Digest tour of what I learned.

The Crest Craft-style

These are what were called "felties" or more technically "felt appliqué". The pieces would be die cut and possibly glued into position before someone hand-stitched them into place with a stitching machine. The lettering was chain-stitching, which my expert said you don't see anymore. When he looked at the stitching on the wings, he just shook his head. He said that they had once had a woman who did such work, but it was definitely a thing of the past.

His overall comment on these patches was that they were a lot of work, extremely labour-intensive and definitely not seen today. He also mentioned that today's crests have an exact uniformity because of computer technology, but no two of these WWII "felties" would be exactly the same because of the stitcher's little slips as he/she worked away twisting and turning the crest on the one-needle machinery of that day.

I just had to show you this crest I found recently. Crest Craft didn't waste any ideas, so this wartime hockey team got wings just like many of the BCATP bases. I added a closeup of the stitching, just so you can imagine a person actually turning the crest so that this wonderful stitching design would result. Amazing!

Flocking

This badge was done with a technique called "flocking" and was described as basically a silkscreen process in which each different color was laid onto the material as glue and then a sort of colored powder being adhered to it. Again, this was a long and labour-intensive process and the resulting crest was prone to fading, cracking and washing out, a danger with all the older crests, which had to be very carefully dry-cleaned so as not to be damaged.

Chenille

The process used in making these was compared to weaving a rug with a one-needle machine, every color being embroidered individually by a highly-skilled stitcher. A pattern would be laid down on the backing material and then the stitcher would "have at it", again producing crests with their own distinctive differences, depending on the use of the machine.

The Good News!!

So far it would seem that the making of crests during WWII was a long and onerous task. Well, it was, and therein lies the good news for collectors. My expert assured me that, for economic reasons, none of the above styles of cresting would be produced in the computer age, making modern knock-offs an improbability. Add to this the fact that with the advent of washable uniforms, these kinds of cresting became obselete because they didn't stand up too well against water and soap, and they would survive only very skillful dry cleaning.

The Bad News!!

Yes, there's a downside to all this. The WWII shoulder titles, eagles, trade badges and the like were most likely made en masseusing a machine known as a "Schiffli" loom, a fifteen-yard long, multi-needle monstrosity which stitched a repeating pattern on a huge piece of material. Keep in mind that there are still two to three hundred of these machines in operation in North America today, raising the possibility of knock-offs.

The Canada/USA titles at left are a case in point. These used to be scarce items and I question how these all of a sudden became so readily available. I have been warned by collecting friends to beware of copies. BCATP shoulder titles are another area where a collector had better know his stuff before he puts out big bucks for that coveted "B.L.A.V." title. I now buy these only from people I know.

A collecting friend, Chris Kanca, a straight shooter and collecting innovator, has been producing copies of WWII Commonwealth brevets and other memorabilia such as the Eagle Squadron titles for reinactors and collectors. He says that, unfortunately, some of these turn up purporting to be the real thing in militaria auctions. Caveat emptor, dudes!