This is what my designs take, how I approach them, and the path they take... normally!
The fisrst step usually occurs when I realize my sales have dwindled and I need to make bills this month, yikes! Haha, well not quite that bad, but a need to continue to contribute items that the patch community wants, regularly and with some degree of skill and artistic merit is my main drive. I’m an artist, trained and seasoned while working in many mediums both professionally and personally over the years. I get a sense of satisfaction from creating a piece of art that the world likes and wants to bring into their collective homes.
As a fine artist I have always struggled with the cost of art and the fact that the common person probably couldn’t afford pieces to put in their home, yet they are often the driving force and or the audience that the works are about/for...
Side track over... Patches, for me, represent a way that I can contribute little works of art that anyone can afford without too much effort. What I’m working towards constantly in this process is to live off of this endeavour decently and be able to provide for my family while doing so. 
From concept to final product: it always starts with an idea, an ‘ah ha” moment where something clicks in my mind, sometimes it’s a pun, or a funny word, or maybe just an image of something cool, reguardless, I say “ahhh haaaa” that’s it, and get to work. I have always been an envelope pusher, Simone who sees a medium and wonders how I can use it past its fullest. Example, in my last job, I came up with a way to use two types of patches, pvc rubber and woven thread to make a ribbon attached to a seal. Sent off my idea to the manufacturer, with a few back and fourths we were able to come up with a new patch type, a hybrid. Not mind blowing I know, but outside of the norm for sure.
Back on track. I tend to look for inspiration on the web, images, movies, things like that that give me more ideas on how to turn this thought of an idea into a real thing! I often mock things up, maybe draw something over a photo or collage a few things together! Anything to start seeing things in a way I want them to turn out... then I start drawing them on my iPad with the Apple Pencil, first the lines and then I add colours to the vector files, and play around with the shapes until it feels like I’m almost there. Pretty much every design sits for a few days to a few weeks with minor tweaks being added over time to be sure it feels totally ready to make!
Next it’s sent off to whichever manufacturer I’m going to use. I would love to make these in house too but the truth is I can’t afford to bring embroidered work in house, yet! Someday I would like full control over the process and that will be a future step, but for now I source my manufacturing out of house!
Those are the basics, there can be more to a design and sometimes less, but usually it goes a little something like that!
Jesse
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