Refashioning: Comme de Garcons Inspired Shirt - How to Iron On Embroidered Patches (Small)

Okay, we all know I'm a fan of Moschino, right?

(The dress below is from Boutique Moschino and retails for $695.)

Well, I also really like the fantasy of the Japanese design house "Comme de Garcons." Their designs are just always out-of-the-box and graphic.

Anyways, the picture above is from a couture fashion show. They also have a cheaper casual line called "PLAY." The play line has this cute little heart with eyes on it as a logo.

It's a cheaper line, but the T-Shirts are still over $100.

Anyways....here is a project that literally anyone with an iron can do. (I realize that not everyone has an embroidery machine, so some of my embroidery posts are not helpful for the masses.)

I had this button-up blouse that I tried selling online, but no one ever bought it. I was only getting rid of it because I have a million black shirts. But I still really liked it, so I didn't want to just give it away.

It has these really interesting--almost epaulet-like--pleats on the shoulders.

I ordered these cute little heart iron-on patches off eBay. I think it was less than a $1 for both.

You may not have a dress form like I do, but if you want to do a project like this, all you need is yourself and a mirror. Hold the patches up and look at yourself until you get them in the right place...or whatever you consider to be the right place!

I liked them best like this.

Okay, so here's what you do. Everyone tells you to place the patch down right where you want it on the shirt (or whatever) and then hit it directly with the iron. I don't do this for several reasons. (1) You need to hold the iron on the patch for more than a few seconds to create a lasting bond. (2) A lot of times, when you iron the patch on from the top and hold the iron on too long, the iron messes the patch up (skid marks, melting, etc). Even if you hold the iron still. (3) A lot of times hitting the patch from the top messes up the surrounding fabric, and you get those funky waves that everyone hates. (4) Doing the majority of the ironing from the wrong side heats up the adhesive much better than ironing from the top of the patch down, because usually the clothing fabric is thinner than the patch....The problem with doing all the ironing from the wrong side is that you can never get the placement right.

So, here's how I do it.

First, I plug in my iron and hold the patch up to it (not touching) to get the adhesive sticky.

Then, I place the patch down where I want it.

Usually, that's all I have to do to get the patch in the right place, and I flip the clothing inside out, iron the back and I'm done.

However, these patches were a little tricky, so if you find yourself with some tricky patches, read on.

Since the patches weren't heating up, I decided to heat up the surface fabric instead.

That worked a little better. At least the patches were slightly adhering now.

Then, I VERY LIGHTLY touched each patch with the iron for barely a few seconds. I did this to make sure there was a good enough bond so I could turn the shirt inside out without the patches falling off.

Then, I ironed the heck out of the patches from the back!

Once you get the patches to stick, always let them cool a few seconds and fold the fabric away from each patch to make sure that it stuck well enough. Always remember to wash these items inside-out and hang them to dry. (Even if your patches say they can be tumble dried, they stay on better if you line dry them.)

There! Looks pretty Moschino-meets-Garcons to me!

The End!