Refashioning: Kenzo Inspired Eye Shirt...How to Iron On Sequin Patches (Large)

I am also a fan of the French fashion house "Kenzo." Kenzo is well-known for being graphic and sporty. This is one of their most sold items: The Eye T-Shirt.

These also retail around $100.

I just showed you in my last post how I iron on small patches. This time, I will show you how I do not only larger patches, but also ones with sequins.

I found this really great blouse at Goodwill. I like that the black lines almost give it a pop-art "drawn" sort of look--almost like the wearer is a cartoon character.

I found this huge sequin eye iron-on patch on eBay for just over $1.00.

Okay, as I've already said, the best way to get a patch to adhere is to iron it from the wrong side of the clothing item. However, it's nigh to impossible to get the placement correct if you start ironing from the back side initially. So you need to make sure that your patch sticks to the front well enough so that you can turn the shirt inside out without it falling off.

With a larger patch, this becomes REALLY challenging--especially when dealing with sequins that could potentially melt if the iron is hot enough!

What to do? Well, this is how I do it.

First, I place my patch exactly where I want it on the front of the clothing item. Then, I carefully place a T-Shirt over top the patch and begin ironing the T-Shirt.

Then, VERY CAREFULLY AND LIGHTLY, I hit several key points directly on the patch itself from the top. Don't hold the iron on too long! Really important! Just barely get the patch to adhere so you can turn the shirt inside out!

IF THIS DOESN'T WORK: You can also use spray adhesive to get your patch to stick, but be warned: (1) Spray adhesive kinda gets everywhere if you're not careful and makes your hands (and surrounding surfaces) really annoyingly sticky for a long time. (2) Too much spray adhesive could react with the patch's adhesive and make it less likely to melt properly. (3) It's much easier to place the patch down where you want it and get it to stick there with an iron, versus holding a huge patch up in the air, spraying it, and then trying to place it properly without it folding and sticking to itself--especially with larger patches!

Once the shirt is inside out, then you can iron the heck out of it.

Leave the iron on one location for up to five seconds, then move it to another location. (You can leave the iron on up to ten seconds if the fabric is cotton. This shirt is polyester, so I didn't want it to melt.) You may need to repeat this several times to get the stubborn adhesive to melt and stick enough. 

Once that is down, let the shirt cool a few seconds and bend the fabric away from the sides of the patch to make sure you have a good enough seal. If you don't, hit that particular place from the wrong side for a few seconds more.

Done! I'm not 100% thrilled with the overlap of the patch and button placket, but. . .the eye wasn't perfectly symmetrical, so this was actually the best and straightest placement for it.

Anyways...I like it! Looks really modern!

(As always, turn the clothing item inside out when you wash it and line dry it--even if it says you can tumble dry it.)

The End!