Clothing Repair Day!

Before I got my cricut heat press, I struggled my way through attaching heat transfer vinyl (HTV) with my iron… because of this, some of my designs have started peeling.

 These shirts are made of soft rayon based cloth, which my old washer (it was older than me!) had unfortunately snagged and ripped hole into while washing them. I repaired the shirts by covering the holes with HTV in a couple of nerdy design I found on Etsy (Unfortunately the shops no longer exist…). Kind of in the idea of "Visible Mending." Cricut HTV is not designed to adhere to natural fibers particularly well. I did my best, but about 6 months after I added the designs they started peeling pretty badly. (The heat press has made a BIG difference on my recent projects. My more recent designs have not been as prone to peeling now)

 I was not ready to throw in the towel with these shirts, so I ordered some fabric glue and prepared to repair the designs. Thankfully I didn't lose any of the HTV pieces, so all I had to do was re-attach the flaps that were peeling.

 First I put a silicone mat inside of my shirt so that I would not accidentally glue the front of the shirt to the back of the shirt when the glue seeped into the fibers. Then I applied glue using Aleene’s Fabric Fusion glue and a couple of ball point applicators, to each piece of the HTV and pressed it into the fabric for about 10 seconds. The applicators helped me to control how much glue I was using, which really helped me to avoid glue seeping out around the edges!

The silicone mat was also useful for the application process. I put a couple of drops of glue on the mat, and picked up the glue with the applicators. Then the glue wiped right off the mat! It also peeled off if I let it dry.

I let the two shirts dry for a couple of days and then took the shirts for a test run. None of the glued areas separated from the shirts, which was a big plus.

So now I can add these shirts back into my wardrobe! What do you think? Would you use HTV to mend old clothing?