Help! Brownie sash full after one year!

[3b1g]

DD joined Brownies a year ago. She was full of enthusiasm about what badges she wanted to work towards, so I invested in the wider sash and started sewing them on in two rows of squares rather than a zigzag row of diamonds so more would fit on. The pack have also done lots of challenge badges (jubilee challenge, Sangam etc) which I've sewn on the back. With two years of Brownies left, the sash is now almost full, even though I've sewn the badges as close together as possible. Which of the following options would be best:

1. sew the 'fun' badges on to a gilet (even though no-one else in the pack does this) making more room for 'earned' badges
   
2. transfer the oldest badges on to her camp blanket so she only wears the newest ones on the sash
   
3. buy a second sash to be worn across the first (on the opposite shoulder) and start sewing the newest badges on to this. Has anyone actually done this? Would it look ridiculous?
   Any advice gratefully received, especially from Brownie leaders or parents who have experienced this. Thanks.

[BertieBotts]

Camp blanket I would have thought - isn't this the idea of them? My dad used to have a great one! :)

[Rangirl]

I am a Brown owl A lot of my Brownies have the badges on their top

[sausagesandwich34]

my brownies wear interest badges (the earned ones) on their sash, and the fun badges either on thier gillet or hoody

when they finish brownies then sew the whole brownie sash onto the guide camp blanket :)

[pigsinmud]

My dd's pack have just scrapped sash and brought in gilet. Dd1 already has say, so once full we moved on to the gilet. I hate those bloody sashes. Never stay on her shoulder!

Some of the older ones had sewn badges on the hoody once their sashes were full.

[Feckbox]

no idea but well done your daughter!

[3b1g]

Thanks all, will start transferring some of the fun badges on to the gilet to make room for more interest badges as she earns them. She loves Brownies and it is somewhere she can shine through hard work and conscientiousness. Hopefully the gilet will be easier to sew them on to than the sash, too!

[3b1g]

Reading this back, I've realised that this thread sounds like a bit of a stealth boast. It wasn't meant like that at all. DD is not a high flyer at school and is not at all sporty, so Brownies provides somewhere where she feels she can achieve things and has really boosted her confidence.

[freetoanyhome]

dd's are all sat in a drawer
I cant sew

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

I'm a Brown Owl. My daughter quickly filled up her first badge sash and had almost filled a second one by the time she went up to Guides. She did once or twice wear both sashes at once but it did look a bit daft.

My plan now - suggested to me by a more experienced Brown Owl - is to cut each badge sash in half and then sew the four pieces around the edges of a camp blanket. That way I won't have to do any unpicking of the sashes.

[LoveBox]

I finally got round to seeing DDs onto her sash. Brown owl said to DD "really good effort in trying to sew your own badges on DD, but next time get your mum to so it so its a bit neater." DD replied "mum DID do these!"

Oh the shame. I have banned her from earning any further badges to solve this problem.

[LeeCoakley]

Dd1's are still in the sewing box (along with dd2's and dd3's) waiting to be sewn on. She's nearly 21 and casually mentions them from time to time . I was so on the ball with her Rainbow badges that I think I'd used up all my sewing energy by the time she was 7!

[LittleBearPad]

Lordy in my day they went on our sleeves. Don't suppose this is an option

[LeeCoakley]

lovebox that's hilarious!

[LittleBearPad]

Sorry the Lordy is about the changes in Brownies, not your daughter who has done brilliantly

[DeWe]

The problem is that there's so many big badges now.

Dd's leader doesn't like the sashes because she says all that happens is they fall off when playing and trip them up, or they take them off and lose them. Saved me buying one anyway.

However this year there have been so many events they've given large badges (think 2" diameter) that her brownie top is full sleeves, and front and back and feels like it's been stiff starched.

They had a couple for the jubilee, 3-4 for special events organised for them to go on, a huge one for the olympics, plus the usual ones they earn over the year.

She's got another year and a bit to go as well...

[3b1g]

I agree: each badge seems to be bigger than the last. The last one I had to sew on was a huge elephant-shaped one for Sangam India 2012.

[Poledra]

DD1 has lost her sash - it was already full on the front and I'd just started on the back but she has no idea where it has gone. I really wish I'd sewn the badges onto her top but I was thinking that using a sash would mean I didn't have to unpick and resew the badges each time she outgrew her T-shirt.

Can we ask for replacement badges, does anyone know (I'd pay for them, of course)?

[oopslateagain]

I cut a new sash in half and sewed it onto the bottom of her old sash, so DD had a double-decker sash! It does seem a bit daft that they have so many badges and some are really big.

Since DD's been in Guides, I bought a camp blanket and all her Guide badges go on that. Much easier (but a bugger to sew, though).

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

I think most Brownie leaders would be willing to supply replacement badges if you were willing to pay the cost. I give my Brownies replacements if they pay - it's amazing how many of them manage to lose badges between the Brownie hall and home.

[3b1g]

oopslateagain: that sounds ingenious: did you use the extra fabric to make the sash longer or wider?

[oopslateagain]

Wider - I cut it in half, hemmed the cut ends, then attached it so the extra bit was 'split' at the shoulder seam - otherwise it stuck out like a huge shoulder pad! It wasn't ideal but it did the job.

[EcoLady]

The wide sashes hold a lot of interest badges if you stagger them and overlap the edges of the sash itself. Think of diagonal rows of 4 attached together.
Another approach is to sew 2 rows 'square on', then a diagonal row overlapping down the centre. Looks very pretty.

The Olympic 'On Your Marks' set of badges are the worst! A set of three huge ones that make a circle wider than the sash, plus one in the middle. Grrrr.

The new style of sash does not help. The slots just do NOT work. [GGUK: please take note]. Overlap the ends of the sash by a good big chunk and pin with one of these www.girlguidingukshop.co.uk/Brownie-Badge-Sash-Pin.aspx Or just sew it together, but with a good overlap. The overlap is key to stopping it falling off the shoulder.

Replacement badges - yes, if paid for and still available. Many one-off 'challenge' badges are fundraisers for the unit that created them. Once they sell out they are gone forever. eBay is then your only hope.

[3b1g]

Great tips, EcoLady. To atop the sash falling off her shoulder, I have sewn a small square of fuzzy velcro on to the shoulder of her top (white so it's not noticeable) and a small square of hook velcro on to the underside of the sash at the shoulder.

[Poledra]

Well whaddya know? After nearly 6 months MIA, DD1's sash turned up at brownies last night!! One of the other brownies had taken it home, and not realised she had it (despite she's in a different Six to DD1, and DD1's initials were written on the label ). Anyway, hurray!

[MotherfuckingMorrisMan]

DD never liked Brownies so I missed out on all this badge stuff.

I desperately wanted her to be in the Imps like me, and to get the Hostessing badge.

Do they still have imps, pixies and sprites and the hostessing badge (I think the bade was a cup of tea). i bet they don't.

How lovely that your dd has filled her sash with all her badges OP.