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Campfire blanket with Guiding badges

A blanket covered in badges moved from outgrown uniforms: a member's whole Guiding life, sewn into one object.

A bright blue blanket covered edge to edge with dozens of colourful embroidered Guiding badges, with the name Aileen stitched in white near the top.
A campfire blanket stitched with the name Aileen. Badges visible include ones for Our Chalet, Scottish Guiding and campfires.Image © Girlguiding Norfolk County Archive Resource Centre, via MyLearning; cropped to show the blanket only · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Badges are sewn on uniforms first. When the uniform is outgrown, the Norfolk archive explains, they are often moved onto a campfire blanket, which becomes “the story of the wearer’s guiding heritage”.[1]

Reading a blanket

Interpretation A campfire blanket is a personal archive. Its badges record the sections a member passed through, the skills she was tested in, the camps and events she went to, and the badges she swapped with Guides from elsewhere. Unlike a uniform, which followed the rules, the blanket was arranged however its owner chose.

The blanket is stitched with the name Aileen. Among its badges we can see one dated 2006 and a jamboree badge dated 2014, so at least some of it was assembled in the 2000s and 2010s. That is our reading of the photograph; the archive does not date the blanket or say who Aileen was. Unconfirmed When campfire blankets became a tradition, and how widespread it was across the UK, is not yet documented, so any date for the custom is in doubt.

Object story

What is it, who made it, and when?
A blanket with Guiding badges sewn onto it.
Who owned or used it?
Not recorded.
What did official rules say?
Badges were first sewn onto uniform. The practice of moving them to a campfire blanket appears to have been a tradition rather than a rule.
What signs of use, alteration or repair remain?
Visible in the photograph: dozens of badges sewn close together over the whole visible surface, with the name Aileen stitched in white near the top. The blanket is shown draped over a chair, so its back, edges and stitching cannot be seen, and the archive does not describe its condition.
What larger story can it tell, and what can it not prove?
The archive describes campfire blankets as becoming "the story of the wearer's guiding heritage".
Where is it held, what is its accession number, and what are the reuse terms?
Girlguiding Norfolk Archive Resource Centre, Coltishall. No accession number or date is published. The online image is licensed CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

Sources

  1. Girlguiding Norfolk Archive Resource Centre (via MyLearning), “Blanket With Guiding Badges”, MyLearning. Accessed 25 September 2026. Image © Girlguiding Norfolk County Archive Resource Centre, licensed CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.