How should I adhere fabric to a jacket?

What type of fabric (fibre content, thickness, stretch, etc.) are you considering adding to the Levi jacket?

If you think that you might want to remove it at some time in the future, sewing it on, rather than glueing it would be best.

That way, just remove the stitches; with a seam ripper is fairly easy as long as the stitching is not too small a gauge. Ironing the jacket from the underside should remove any marks from where it was sewn.

Yes, any fusible tape or glue is going to leave a residue, and may also damage the fibres in the process of trying to removing it.

As sticky velcro is thick, and you need two pieces to stick together to each other, whatever is on top of the velcro is going to be raised up, with a gap showing between the original fabric in the jacket, and the added-on pieces. It is also stiff and non flexible, and tends to come 'unstuck' when bent.

What about sewing on a couple of snaps? Or sewing on velcro dots? I wouldn't use the adhesive velcro dots because it might leave residue from the adhesive. But if you sew the dots on, then that would be easy to remove like Flipturn said using a seam ripper . Also snaps might blend in well when you remove the fabric panel because there are a lot of snaps on a denim jacket already. Good luck:)

try double sided fuseable web you can find it in fabric stores such as Joanne's fabrics

Try stitch witchery. It’s a fusible material that you can use to hem clothes (when you use the strip version) or adhere interfacing or make patches when you use the sheets. You need to ensure whatever material is hemmed or the edges are somehow finished unless you are going for a frayed look, but then all you need is a hot iron and wet hanky to steam press your decorative fabric onto clothes (with your stitch witchery sandwiched between them). Be careful to not allow any edges of the fusible material to stick out cause it’ll melt onto your iron, AND understand that since this is adhered using heat—a hot dryer will eventually be its undoing. Always use low heat settings or hang to dry.

I second stitch witchery

If you do decide to try double-sided fusible tape or fusible interfacing, then do not use the 'steam' setting on your iron. It will be counter productive to getting it to stay stuck, as usually steam is used when removal is desired.