Coming up with a theme for your patches is something pretty easy, but sometimes, you like so many different patches and styles that it can be difficult. For example, you want to show your patriotic side by include a U.S. flag patch, but you also want to put your zodiac sign patch on there, and then you'd like to have that one funny saying patch, too. These patches really won't go together, so does that mean you have to drop one or two of them? No. The solution is to do your jacket in patches that are the same color or have many of the same colors in them. This will give your jacket an overall unified theme, even when the patches themselves don't really go together.
If you want to use a U.S. flag on your jacket, then you could use red, white, or blue colored patches around it. You don't have to limit yourself to these colors, of course, but make sure each patch has at least one of them in it. If you cluster the ones with related colors together, you can actually use several different main colors in your jacket. Just put the patches that are, say, blue on one side and the ones that have, for example, red on the other. In between the two, use patches with both colors, like the U.S. flag patch. You could also do rows of different colored patches if you like how that looks.
Of course, even if you do use patches with mostly one color, you can add a random black and white patch or other colored patch here and there if you want. Use your judgment and see how the patches look together. If it works for you, then go for it!
