From Vector to Thread: Your Complete Guide to Creating a Realistic Patch

Watch the video: “How to Create a Colourful Embroidered Patch in Illustrator” by Spoon Graphics

A sun-baked horizon, a retro badge shape, and the illusion of real thread—this tutorial shows how to build a vector “National Park” patch in Illustrator, then finish it with a tactile embroidery effect in Photoshop. The result looks like fabric, stitches, and sheen—minus the guesswork.

What you’ll learn

• How to construct a rounded hexagon badge and a simple layered landscape in Illustrator

• How to add retro sky stripes, Tatooine’s two suns, and a double-stroked border

• Typography set-up, alignment tricks, and subtle corner rounding for polish

• How to cleanly export by color and run a Photoshop action to simulate thread and stitching

Introduction: Designing a Retro National Park Patch The project channels classic National Park badges while nodding to a cinematic desert locale—“Tatooine.” You’ll build the entire composition as tidy vectors in Adobe Illustrator, then take it into Photoshop for a convincing embroidery mockup using a ready-made action.

Pro tip Set your Illustrator document to Pixels on an A4 artboard, then choose View > Hide Artboards to give yourself a borderless working area. It’s a small setup detail that makes arranging objects feel spacious.

Step 1: Setting Up Your Illustrator Document Inspiration from National Park Designs The badge silhouette keeps things recognizable and compact. Start in Illustrator with a new A4 document, pixel units. Use the Polygon Tool to draw a hexagon while holding Shift to keep it upright and constrained.

Overview of the Illustrator and Photoshop Workflow After the vector build, you’ll prepare a layered PSD where each color is on its own layer. In Photoshop, a multi-step action applies stitch outlines, fill textures, and a final render pass. The mockup ends up looking like thread on fabric—ready to showcase or pitch.

Creating the Hexagonal Base Shape Draw the hexagon, then tweak its proportions by scaling from the center and adjusting height for that classic tall badge look. With the Direct Selection tool, drag any corner widget inward to round all corners at once—instant friendliness for a utilitarian shape.

Rounding Corners for a Softer Look The rounded profile is the subtle difference between “sign” and “sewn-on patch.” Keep it gentle; you’re aiming for a softened perimeter that will later complement thick border strokes.

Step 2: Building the Tatooine Landscape Drawing the Foreground and Midground with the Pencil Tool Drop in your color palette reference (exact HEX values are not specified in the video). With the Pencil Tool, sketch a wavy horizon that closes back on itself. Fill with your darkest brown so the foreground reads as a solid silhouette.

Watch out If a shape won’t fill, the path probably isn’t closed. Trace back to your starting point and click it to complete the loop.

Using the Shape Builder Tool to Trim Shapes Select both the foreground shape and the hexagon. With the Shape Builder Tool, hold Alt and click to delete the parts that spill outside the badge. Repeat the process as you add a mountain-like midground (sample a purple), trimming it to fit within the hexagon.

Quick check You should have two clean silhouette layers stacked inside the badge: a dark foreground and a purple midground.

Creating the Striped Sunset Sky A classic retro move: draw horizontal rectangles for the sky—deep red at the top, then orange and lighter red. Use Smart Guides to align edges precisely and keep everything flush against the hexagon sides. Trim any overhang with Shape Builder again.

From the comments Some viewers mentioned learning more Illustrator tricks in this segment than they expected—this is where shape tools and quick trimming do a lot of heavy lifting.

Step 3: Adding Illustrative Details and Borders Drawing Tatooine’s Iconic Two Suns Use the Ellipse Tool to add a pale yellow circle. Position it so it dips behind the purple mountains. To trim it cleanly, duplicate the mountain shape, bring it to the front, then use Pathfinder > Minus Front to notch the sun. Add a second, smaller, paler sun.

Creating a Double-Stroke Border with the Appearance Panel Select the hexagon. In the Appearance panel, add two strokes: a thin pale yellow on top (5 pt) aligned to the outside, and a thicker dark brown beneath (20 pt). The result is an authentic-looking patch edge with a nested highlight line. If the order looks wrong, just drag to reorder strokes.

Adding Silhouette Moisture Farms Sketch simple rectangles, then use Direct Selection to round only the top corners for a domed profile. Place a few variants in the foreground silhouette. These small shapes add narrative without clutter.

Pro tip With small decorative elements, keep fills to your darkest tone so they read as silhouette details rather than competing focal points.

Step 4: Typography and Text Styling Choosing and Placing Your Fonts Add the main title “TATOOINE” using Titling Gothic, scaled and filled with the pale yellow used elsewhere. Supporting lines include a compressed sans for “NATIONAL PARK” (with generous tracking) and script for “Visit the,” plus “OUTER RIM” in a wide sans. The video uses Titling Gothic and Scriptorama (both via Adobe Fonts).

Centering Text Perfectly with Key Objects To center accurately, convert the headline to outlines. Select both the text and badge, then click the badge again to make it the key object (you’ll see a thicker highlight). Use Align > Horizontal Align Center. The key object method ensures you’re not aligning to the artboard by accident.

Adding Final Stylistic Touches Round the corners of your outlined sans text just a touch—around 1.5 px for larger text and 0.5 px for small copy, as shown. This softens the typography so it harmonizes with the rounded badge. Add small divider dots beside “NATIONAL PARK” to echo enamel pin aesthetics.

Step 5: Preparing and Exporting for Photoshop Expanding Appearance to Finalize Effects Before export, select everything and choose Object > Expand Appearance. This locks in your stacked strokes and other procedural styles as standard vector paths.

Using the Pathfinder to Divide and Unite Shapes Click Divide in Pathfinder to split overlapping shapes. Ungroup, then for each color: Select one object, go to Select > Same > Fill Color, and hit Unite. Repeat for each hue until every color is a single, clean object. This is crucial for a tidy layered PSD.

Exporting as a Layered PSD File Go to File > Export > Export As and pick Photoshop (PSD). In the dialog, set the resolution to High (300 ppi) and ensure Write Layers is checked. This yields a PSD with one layer per color—exactly what the Photoshop action expects.

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Watch out If you skip the Unite-by-color routine, you’ll export hundreds of slivers. The action can struggle with that kind of layer soup.

Step 6: Applying a Realistic Embroidery Effect in Photoshop Using the ‘Realistic Embroidery’ Photoshop Action Open the PSD in Photoshop, then run the action color by color. The workflow shown in the video runs a stitched outline, a fill detail, and then a render step for each color. Rename the output from each run before starting on the next color to prevent overwriting.

Restoring Original Colors with Blending Modes The action adds a default blue thread color. To bring your palette back, group your original color layers, move the group to the top of the stack, and set the blend mode to Overlay. This restores the vector hues while preserving stitch texture, highlights, and shadows.

Fine-Tuning the Effect with Smart Objects Open individual smart objects created by the action to adjust features. The video removes Cloth Displace on most layers except the brown one, disables the drop shadow, and removes the border on small text to keep it legible. Tweak per layer for clarity and realism. magnetic embroidery frames

Quick check Zoom in. You should see thread-like texture, directional stitch lines, and subtle edge lighting that elevate the flat art into a patch-like surface.

From the comments: Quick answers to common questions

• “Is this embroidery or just a mockup?” It’s a Photoshop-based mockup effect—the video doesn’t cover machine stitch files or .pes exports.

• “My PSD is a single layer—why?” Ensure Write Layers is checked at export, and that you consolidated artwork so there’s one object per color beforehand.

• “Everything turned blue—help!” Restore your Illustrator colors by placing the original color group at the top in Overlay mode, as demonstrated.

• “Action errors like ‘Invert is not available’?” The video doesn’t give a universal fix. Some users report version-specific issues; ensure you follow the layer-rename step between runs.

Ethical note The design theme references a fictional universe. If you’re planning commercial use, check rights and avoid confusion with official merchandise.

Beyond the screen: If you want a real, stitched patch This tutorial ends with a visual mockup. Turning a design into a sew-on patch for apparel requires a digitized embroidery file format (the video doesn’t specify this). Different shops accept different formats, so ask your manufacturer what they need. A conversation about thread count, stitch types, size, and substrate will help dial in a production-ready result. mighty hoop

Toolbox recap

• Illustrator tools: Polygon, Pencil, Rectangle, Ellipse, Type, Direct Selection, Shape Builder, Eyedropper, Align, Pathfinder, Stroke, Appearance

• Photoshop setup: Layers panel, Actions panel, Smart Objects, blend modes

• File hygiene: Expand Appearance; Divide, then Unite by color; Export As PSD with Write Layers and High resolution

Troubleshooting playbook

• Can’t add the thin yellow inner border? Double-check stroke order in the Appearance panel; the thinner stroke should be above the thicker stroke and aligned outside.

• Sun trim looks jagged or leaves gaps? Use the duplicate-mountain + Pathfinder Minus Front method as in the video, rather than Shape Builder on both objects at once.

• Fonts look harsh? Convert to outlines and apply minimal corner rounding—large text around 1.5 px, small text about 0.5 px.

• Action keeps overwriting layers? Rename each processed layer before starting the next color pass.

From vector to thread: why this workflow shines You get the speed and control of vector art with the texture and warmth of fabric—all in two apps you likely already use. It’s perfect for portfolios, client pitches, and mockups. If you ever decide to produce real patches, you’ll start from a clean, layered composition with colors that can be translated into threads—just remember, actual embroidery requires separate digitizing not covered here. snap hoop monster

A quick word on real embroidery gear vs. mockups While this guide focuses on digital visuals, real-world production introduces hooping and stabilization choices. If you’re exploring stitching at home later, you’ll encounter a range of accessories commonly discussed in the embroidery community, like magnetic options and clamping systems. None of these are required for this Photoshop mockup, but they come up when you move to physical stitching. magnetic hoops

Skill-building checklist

• Draw, round, and style the hexagonal badge

• Build a layered silhouette landscape and retro stripes

• Add two suns, stitched borders-in-waiting, and tidy silhouettes

• Set headline and supporting text, center with a key object, and apply subtle rounding

• Expand, Divide, Unite by color, and export to PSD with layers

• Run the action per color, restore original hues via Overlay, and fine-tune Smart Objects embroidery machine for beginners

Keep experimenting Swap the palette, try different badge silhouettes, or explore alternate type pairings. The method scales to any scene—coastal cliffs, alpine ranges, nighttime skylines. As long as you unite by color and layer cleanly, the final texture will feel convincingly tactile. mighty hoops