Easily Attach Iron-on Patches Without Ironing or Sewing

 This past July, our oldest son competed in the USA Taekwondo National Championships for the third year in a row, and brought home a bronze medal for poomsae.  I was so proud of him because, although he had earned a medal in sparring in the past, he had yet to medal in poomsae, which is his true passion.

While at Nationals, we picked up some patches for his competition uniform and for his competition team jacket.  We had the patch sewn onto his uniform by a local tailor for $5.  Easy!  Attaching the patch for his team jacket was not so easy.  Since the jacket has a polyester nylon shell, I was told that puncturing it with a needle could cause damage down the road, and that it cannot withstand an iron hotter than 300 degrees.

I researched the issue online multiple times, watched many tutorials, and even reached out to Sport-Tek, the manufacturer of the jacket.  Still, I could not find a definitive answer about how to effectively and safely attach this patch, which has an iron-on coating on the back, to this polyester nylon jacket.  I did not want to experiment with any iffy methods, and risk ruining my son's jacket.

Then one day, in a last ditch effort, I tried to Google the issue again.  I came across quotes from reviews on Amazon for a product that did not show up in my searches before, so I clicked through.  The product was called Badge Magic.  I read the reviews, and they looked very promising.  Still, I did not see any that stated that this product would work on a nylon jacket using an iron-on type patch, so I asked the question.  Several past purchasers replied that it should, but one finally replied with a definite "Yes!".  That was what I was waiting for, so I ordered one sheet to give it a try.  It worked GREAT!!!  Since I had so much trouble finding the information I needed for attaching our patch, I wanted to share how easy this process turned out to be . . .


How to Attach a Patch the No-Iron, No-Sew Way:

Supplies Needed:

Sharp Pencil

Scissors

Cut to Fit Badge Magic

Ruler

TIP #1:  Be sure the fabric item to which you will be attaching the patch is clean and wrinkle-free, if possible.

Step 1.  Place your regular or iron-on patch right-side up on the printed side of the Badge Magic sheet.  While holding the badge in place with one hand, trace the shape of the badge using a pencil with the other.

TIP #2: Using an automatic pencil worked well for me because it gave me a fine line, and I was able to trace as close to the patch as possible without making any marks on the edges of the patch.

Step 2. Following the outline you traced, cut out the shape of the patch from the Badge Magic sheet.

Step 3. Peel off the printed backing from the shape you cut out, exposing the sticky surface.

Step 4. Carefully position the patch right-side up on the sticky surface, trying to line up the edges exactly.  Press down firmly to adhere the Badge Magic shape to the backside of the patch.

TIP #3:  The adhesive is extremely sticky, so try to be precise when attaching the Badge Magic to the back of your patch.  It would be best to have an adult complete this step.

Step 5. If the Badge Magic shape is larger than your patch on any of the edges, trim the Badge Magic shape with scissors until its edges match up with those of your patch.

Step 6.  Using a ruler, determine and take note of the desired position for the patch.  (For example, I measured how far down from the shoulder seam the patch should be while my son was wearing the jacket.  I also noted that the top right corner of the patch should hit the edge of the red stripe.  Then I used those same guidelines to position the patch with the jacket sleeve laying flat.)

Step 7.  Carefully remove the plain white backing from the back of the patch, exposing the second sticky surface.

TIP #4:  According to the Badge Magic instructions, at this point you should fold back any extra adhesive seen around the edges of the patch, however, if you had trimmed the Badge Magic shape (Step 5), then this should be unnecessary.

Step 8.  Position the badge in the desired position.  When the position looks correct, press down firmly on the badge.  Rub the handle of your scissors over the entire badge, especially the edges, to make sure there is a strong bond.

TIP #5:  Since my son's jacket has a nylon shell, like a windbreaker, it was shipped to us with creases all over.  I did not have a way to remove these creases, so I used both hands to put tension on the area where the patch was to be placed to flatten the material while placing the patch on the jacket.

That's it!  The process was super-quick.  The Badge Magic is said to be washable, but I have not tested that yet.  My son's jacket is new and has barely been worn due to the warm weather.

Below is the Badge Magic instructional video.  According to the reviews on Amazon, this product works great for Boy Scout and Girl Scout badges too.

What other uses can you think of for Badge Magic?

Share your ideas with us in a comment here.

Turn a Vera Bradley Crossbody Bag into a Shoulder Bag in Less Than 5 Minutes { No-Sew Project }

A few months ago, I was at the mall with my family because my oldest was taking a coding class at the Microsoft store.  The class was an hour long, so I went across the way to browse at the Vera Bradley store.  It had been awhile since I had been in there.  I asked my daughter to join me.

Big surprise!  My browsing turned into buying.  My daughter and I both loved the Lilac Tapestry print and I couldn't pass up a chance to have another set of mother-daughter coordinating handbags.  I went pretty, but practical, and picked out the Small Trimmed Vera Tote.  My daughter had a little more trouble though.  She used to be all about crossbody bags, but now that she is a little older, she really wanted a shoulder bag, like a mini hobo or something with a shorter strap.  The problem was that Vera Bradley didn't carry any smaller bags that weren't a crossbody style at the moment.  We looked at the Vera Bradley Little Crossbody bag, and I decided I could probably do a little altering and shorten the strap on that bag for her.

When I got home, I had a feeling of doubt.  What if I shortened the strap on that bag and my daughter changes her mind?

How I shortened the strap on our Vera Bradley crossbody bag with no sewing . . . 

Step 1.  Adjust the 56" strap to the desired length, even though you will have a tail of excess fabric.  (I would say that ours was adjusted to have a 6" or 7" drop.)

Step 2.  Tie a knot at the base of the strap to keep the strap from being lengthened or shortened any further.

Step 3.  Tuck the tail of excess fabric into the exterior pocket on the backside of the bag.  Secure it inside the pocket with a small safety pin to make sure it stays put and does not interfere with the functionality of the pocket.

That's it!  The tail blends in well whether you have a print or solid fabric bag.  Because the tail is tucked into the pocket on the backside of the bag, it really isn't noticeable at all.  My daughter was very pleased with the result, and I feel good that I can easily turn this bag back into a crossbody bag if she so desires.

Although I haven't tried this with other styles of Very Bradley crossbody bags, it should work if you have the following:

• An adjustable strap
• A strap that is not too wide to tie in a knot neatly
• A pocket on the backside of the bag that runs the nearly the full width of the bag.

What easy no-sew projects have you tried?  Share them with us in a comment here.

How to Make Your Own No-Sew High-Low Hem Shirt from a Men's or Unisex T-Shirt

This post has been written in partnership with the Red Bubble Affiliate Program.  Thank you to Red Bubble for providing the Buffy t-shirt, created by an independent artist, for our DIY fashion project.  All opinions expressed are my own.

There are certain silhouettes in tops that I find to be particularly flattering on most body shapes.  The boxy high-low t-shirt is one of them.  It hides any flaws you may have around the middle and still provides coverage in the back for those of us who want to be more modest when wearing leggings or skinny jeans.  Even though the high-low hemline is something that is extremely popular at the moment, it seems to be difficult to find them in casual t-shirts.  I also have trouble finding women's t-shirts with a boxy hip-length cut.  There are so many cute t-shirts out there, but the girly fit is too form-fitting for my taste and the unisex t-shirts are too long.  I often forgo buying printed t-shirts I like because there does not seem to be a shirt style that's a good fit for me. That's why I decided to try making my own hip-length high-low t-shirt out of a unisex t-shirt.  Two birds . . . one stone!

Today's Project:  No-Sew High-Low Hem T-Shirt

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

Men's or Unisex T-Shirt (2 sizes up from your normal size)

scissors (sharp enough to cut through fabric easily)

pen, pencil, or chalk
tape measure or a hip-length shirt you already own

Before you begin, be sure to wash your t-shirt to get any shrinking out of the way.  My Red Bubble t-shirt does not recommend machine drying, but I needed to shrink mine, so I put it in the dryer inside out.  I am about 5'5" and purchased a unisex XXL.  The shirt hem hit just above my knees.  After machine washing in cold and tumble drying it, the t-shirt length was 3" to 4" shorter, which was perfect for this project.

Step 1.  With your shirt laying perfectly flat (front facing up), use scissors to make two tiny cuts on either side of the trim around the neckline.  Then insert your scissors into the opening you've made and cut around the neckline of the front of your t-shirt only as close to the trim as possible.

Step 2.  Flip your t-shirt over and lay it perfectly flat on your work space.  Then continue to cut around the band along the neckline on the back of the t-shirt until the entire band has been removed.

Step 3.  Make a tiny cut at the bottom seam of the left sleeve as close to the band as possible.  Then insert your scissors in the opening and remove the band starting at the front by cutting as close to the band as possible.  Then flip the shirt over to continue cutting to remove the entire band.  Then repeat this with the right sleeve.

Step 4.  Repeat Step 3 with the hem of the t-shirt.

Step 5.  With the front of the t-shirt facing out, fold your t-shirt in half vertically.  Be very careful to match up the shoulder seams, underarm seams, and hemline.

Step 6.  Fold a hip-length t-shirt that you already have in half vertically with the front facing out.  Then lay it on top of your project t-shirt and make a small mark on the bottom shirt to note the length of the shirt on top.  You can do this using a pen, pencil, or a thin piece of chalk.  If you don't own a hip-length t-shirt, then you can use a measuring tape to approximate and mark off how high up hip-length would be from the bottom hem.

Step 7.  Lay your project shirt flat with the design facing up.  Then draw a curved line connecting the mark you just made at the middle of the shirt to the bottom right corner of the shirt.  Do the same thing, connecting the center mark with the bottom left corner of the shirt, mirroring the first curved line you drew.

Step 8.  Using scissors, carefully cut along the arc you drew to create a curved hemline on the front of your shirt.

Step 9.  Lay your shirt so that the right side seam is flat on your work space.  Then carefully remove the sharp angle at the bottom of the seam so that the front hem transitions smoothly to the back hem.  Repeat this with the bottom of the left side seam.

Step 10.  Give all your raw edges (neckline, sleeves, and shirt hem) a few good stretches to create a more natural slightly rolled edge.

Now you're all done and should have a comfy and stylish new high-low hem t-shirt!  This was my first time doing this project, but I am pleased with how it turned out.  I will definitely be doing this again and am thrilled that, going forward, I can buy the printed t-shirts that I love without hesitation due to the shirt style.  If you give this easy DIY fashion project a try, let me know how it turns out!


You can find this Magic Box Advertisement t-shirt by independent artist, UtherPendragon, and other Buffy t-shirts at RedBubble.com.