This is a random thing but I was so happy to find this little tip I wanted to share it with you guys as well.
Do you have little boy scouts or girl scouts and have to wrestle with those maddening patches? Maybe it is just me but our little Daisy Troop vest was looking mighty sad:
I tried fabric glue, ironing (and I seriously ironed those darn patches for ages)… nothing worked and our little patches were always falling off and looking like a mess.
So the last Girl Scout meeting my husband took our little trooper and he came home and said “Oh by the way… so and so’s husband is a big blah.. blah… (insert football team here) fan and we blah… blah… (insert going to a game or watching a game or playing in a game or whatever it was here)…
So this went on and I pretended to listen politely all the while composing my grocery list in my head. Suddenly he comes out with this little tip- “Oh and someone told me to try a flat iron for the patches. It works better then the iron.” REWIND!
What?! Brilliant! One of the Mom’s in our little group had tried using her flat iron and it worked perfectly. So I took our sad little vest promptly into the bathroom, plugged in my flat iron and viola! Darn if it doesn’t work like a charm! Just get it nice and hot and hold the pressure for about 30-60 seconds.
Since your flat iron is a little thin you need to move it around and hold to get all the sides. This was so much faster and so much easier then the glues and the regular iron I had been fighting with.
And now our patches are now perfectly adhered to the little Daisy troop vest. Boom!
So if you have little boy scouts or girl scouts or kiddos in sports that might occasionally put a patch on, you might want to try this method and see how it works for you.
You can see more quick little tips plus some DIY cleaning ideas on my pinterest board.
Ugh! Wish I knew this last year and year before. I sewed my boys’ boy scout patches on. Unfortunately, they quit scouts this year.
Joy- those patches are a nightmare aren’t they? I imagine my sewing might have looked even worse then the ironing and gluing mess I had already made 🙂
Awesome tip! Thanks!!!
I just spent an hour sewing on patches for my daughter’s little daisy tunic today… and she won’t be wearing it anymore! She’s moved on to Brownies. Good to know for this year, though!
Yay, thanks for the tip. We start our daisy troop meetings this week 🙂
So glad I saw this. My son just earned 7 badges at his last pack meeting (scouts) and I wasn’t looking forward to sewing them on. Do you have to put some kind of adhesive on the back before you use the flat iron, or do they already have something on the back?
Thanks!!
Lindsy, Your badges should have an adhesive. I have never seen a patch without the clear glossy stuff on the back. I didn’t add anything else other then the patches and the flat iron. I tried a fabric glue and that did not work as you can see the from glue residue and the missing patch on my before picture 😉
Do you still have to put a piece of cloth between the patch & the flat iron?
I’ve been needing to help my son with his boy scout patches so this is a great tip. Thanks.
We just started Cub Scouts and I was told that they are not iron on patches (like Girl Scouts) so they will have to be sewn on. I don’t have any yet so I haven’t seen it. The Girl Scout store had a product called Badge Magic that is a very sticky double sided adhesive that works pretty well if a patch can’t be ironed on but make sure to get the adhesive all the way to the very edges of the patch and really press it on firmly – I use a scraping motion with my finger nail on both sides.
Thanks for the tip! I am starting our daisy troop this week. Any tips for Daisy meetings? Would love to hear some ideas.
The flat iron is a real miracle! I use it on the layers of ruffles on my daughter’s skirts. It’s also good on ribbon belts, hair ribbons, and it does a great job on my husband’s cuffed pant cuffs. i have 2 sizes for all jobs! It’s not just for hair!
Trista, The Badge Magic does seem to work well. I know someone that does use it on our troop and her patches are perfectly adhered. It is $8 for me to buy though plus $6 shipping or a 1 hour round trip drive to the Girl Scout store.
Sylvia, I did not do anything other then the patch and the flat iron.
Money counts is not a fun patch.. Its an offical earned badge and should be in the front of the daisy tunic/ vest
Fyi
This is completely random, and you probably won’t even see this considering how long ago this was posted, but is that flat iron the one with the green plates? If so, and you ever feel like getting rid of it, I will buy it from you. I know that sounds ridiculous, but those are my favorite flat irons and they don’t make them anymore. Just throwing it out there. I’m not a weirdo, I promise. Lol
Ha ha! My flat iron is crazy old- Paul Mitchell from probably 8 years ago or more 🙂 It still works perfectly– I hope you find one!
Thanks for the tip. I am madly trying to finish applying patches before bridging ceremony. Been struggling with them all year. I saw the flat iron tip before, but ignored it because not all the patches are iron on, even if they have that plastic backing, so I didn’t think it would work. Well, it does. Some of her patches don’t even have the plastic, so guess I’m going to have to draw blood with a needle and thread. 😉
Ha ha- yeah it worked on 90% of our patches. You can always get the patch magic kit too but I found that to be a bit of a pain 🙂
My ex-daughter-in-law used that idea for all three kids patches, but when I washed the uniforms, the patches started to peel right off. I saw her re-adhere them with the same method. She did exactly what you did. The next time I had to wash uniforms, they peeled off again. What do suppose she was doing wrong?
Hi Heidi,
We have never washed the uniforms. We just had a vest or sash and they didn’t really get them dirty- nothing a spot clean wouldn’t fix. Did you fold them inside out and wash on delicate? I really don’t think the patches are intended to go through the wash. If the vest is getting super dirty, maybe the child can remove it before the messy projects and put it on again after?
Thank you so much for this great tip! It saved me a lot of time and effort! 🙂
So glad to hear that Eva!
Fabric stores have several products for iron on patches. Some, like stitch witchery, can be purchased by the yard or in a small spool. It should do the trick with the flat iron!
WOuldnt it get glue on your straightener?
Hi Sarah,
You mean the adhesive from the back of the patch on the straightener? I have not had that issue because the straightener does not come in contact with the back of the patch. If you are concerned though, you might slip a very thin piece of fabric in between the patch and the straightener.
I do crafts a lot, do you think this would work for applying heat transfer vinyl and rhinestones to shirts?
Genius!
Yeah! Hope this technique works for you Sue 🙂