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!

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!