Item #0006 – Girl Scout badges (post 1963)

A hole in the fabric…another…another!

How did I miss these holes when I purchased this cute top for Doe Eyes at Goodwill?! How can I salvage this? These are small holes, but there are so many small holes! WAIT–that Girl Scout uniform that I spotted while I was elbow deep in the $1.19 bargain bin…THE BADGES!!!

And so in mid-October 2015, a project was born to revive a cheap Carter’s baby girl long-sleeved shirt. I scoured my salvage fabric and bought an ebay lot of Girl Scout badges. I fused my embellishments onto the shirt and TA-DAAA!

Many moons ago, I was a Brownie Girl Scout in Miami, Florida. I loved racking up badges for my sash. Brownies get the triangular ones, but these leftover ones from my project are Junior Girl Scout badges. I never made it to Juniors, so this is the closest I get to that.

The Girl Scouts began in 1912 when Juliette Gordon Low gathered a group of 18 girls to teach them about the outdoors and leadership skills in Savannah, Georgia. One way Girl Scouts learn about the world around them is by accomplishing projects which allow them to earn badges in seven areas: Artist, Athlete, Citizen, Cook, First Aid, Girl Scout Way, and Naturalist. The Girl Scouts website only features their current badges, but The Vintage Girl Scout Online Museum provides a great resource for vintage badge identification.

It’s easier to find out when a design was introduced, but it’s almost impossible to determine when an individual badge was made. Most of my badges’ designs were introduced in 1963, and many of these were produced without changes up until 1980. Color bordered badges came out in 1980. The only thing I know for sure is that these specific badges are not awarded today. The current badge selection has a much more modern feel.

While reminiscing about my own Girl Scout experience and scoping out the organization’s website, I have so many questions…with the ongoing declining membership, is the Girl Scouts still cool? At what age/level, do the girls really start dropping off? Are the uniforms a turn-off? (Totally understandable.) Who is still “girl scouting”? I want your perspective!

Status: Item sold on 8/23/16 on ebay.

Random for you:

Girl Scouts can earn badges for a number of activities today such as letterboxing and geocaching (big fan of both), product design, screenwriting, netiquette, comic artist, and locavore.

The highest awards a Girl Scout can receive are the Bronze (for Junior level), Silver (for Cadette level), and Gold (for Senior and Ambassador levels) Awards. In order to receive one of these awards, a Girl Scout and her team would choose, plan, and complete a service project that would make a difference in her community.

You can also find recipes using Girl Scout cookies on the Girl Scouts website. Thin Mints White Chocolate Biscotti and Samoa Toffee are two of the many tasty creations you can whip up!