I always see iron-on cute patches when I’m traveling and I think they are such cute little souvenirs that don’t take up too much room when traveling. Today I’m going to show you how to iron a patch on a hat because it’s a great way to make use of all those cute patches. I will walk you through the easy steps and provide a few tips to make it super easy and quick.
Supplies Needed
- Hat (cotton or canvas hats work best)
- Iron-on patch
- Iron
- Hand Towel
- Thin piece of cotton fabric (optional, but you’ll get better results if you use this thin cotton cloth as a protective layer)
You are going to need to make sure of a couple of things for a successful project. First things first: your hat needs to be made of a material that can be ironed with a hot iron, so you want it to be cotton or canvas ideally. Some materials like synthetics melt when ironed so check the care label on a hat before deciding to use it. You may not be able to iron on those materials or you might need to use a lower heat setting.
You also need to make sure that your patch has an adhesive backing on it. It should say “iron-on” somewhere on the tag. Some patches have to be sewn on and some are merely stick-on so you need to verify you’re getting the correct type of patch.
How to Iron a Patch on a Hat Tutorial
Preparation
Hats are more difficult to iron because you can’t just lay them flat on a flat surface, but we are going to fix that. Take the hand towel and fold it up/roll it up so that it will fit inside the hat. Stuff the hand towel into the hat. This will make it a little bit easier to iron the hat.
I then place the stuffed hat onto a table so that one hand is free to hold the patch in place while the other presses with the iron. Because the towel is inside the hat you don’t need an ironing board like you would with something that you could lay flat to iron like a shirt or another piece of clothing.
To iron on a patch you can use a regular household iron. I actually used my Cricut Mini Press because it’s smaller in size which makes it a little less awkward to iron on the patch. The process is exactly the same no matter what iron you use.
Heat up your iron to high or medium-high heat. Your patch may have specific instructions depending on the materials it is made from. If it does, follow those! Generally you want to press your patch on with the highest heat setting that the patch and your hat material will allow. My patch specified that the iron should be 330-390 degrees Fahrenheit.
The steam setting should be set to off.
If there are any wrinkles in your hat then you are going to want to give it a quick press. I chose to iron my patch onto a baseball cap so there weren’t any wrinkles but if you’re doing a bucket hat or some other hat made of a material that’s more prone to wrinkling then this might be an important step.
Then roll it over with a lint roller just to make sure there is nothing on the surface of the hat like a string or anything else. You want the adhesive to bond the patch to the hat without anything getting in the way of a strong bond.
Attachment
Place your patch where you would like it to be on your hat. You can put it on the front, side, back, or even on the brim. Mine actually had backing that you peel off, revealing a sticky back. The sticky back helped hold it into place on the hat while I ironed it.
Place the patch in the spot you want with the adhesive side down and put the thin fabric on top of the patch while holding it in place. Do not skip the thin cloth on top of the patch!
Then firmly press it with your iron. Try to keep the iron still while pressing. If you slide it around you could potentially move the patch out of place.
If your patch is larger and you have to move your iron, try to lift it up carefully and then move it to the next part to be ironed. Be sure you iron all the way to the edges of the patch to ensure a long-lasting bond.
Again, your patch instructions will probably specify how long to press it for but generally speaking it’s going to be about 15-45 seconds. My patch had instructions to press for 20-25 seconds.
Let your patch cool. Cooling allows the adhesive to set. That’s the final step, you’re done!
Many patches come with instructions to iron the patch on the front and then from the back. This is really hard to do with the shape of a hat. Ironing a patch from behind like this will help it to be more secure but the good news is that a hat isn’t washed in a washing machine like a shirt or jacket would be so it should be secure enough just with ironing it from the front.
Tips
- If you have a hat that you really want to put a patch on but that hat isn’t a material that can be ironed then you may want to consider sewing on your patch. You can buy patches that are sew-on or you can sew on an iron-on patch with a coordinating thread color.
- You want to spot clean your hat with a damp cloth and cold water or cool water. Do not put it in the washing machine.
- Be sure to use the thin pressing cloth to help protect your patch and hat while ironing, it really will give you the best results.
- Sometimes people consider ironing on patches to be a temporary solution and sew-on patches to be a more permanent solution but because you hand wash a hat it’s enough of a secure bond to be a permanent solution and stay attached for a long time.
As you can see adding a patch to a hat is super simple to iron on a patch and it’s great for getting a unique, personalized hat. You can even add multiple patches to a hat or revive an old hat by adding a patch. Of all the different types of patches the iron-on patch is the easiest to apply and I hope this tutorial has helped. If you have any questions or iron a patch onto a hat please let me know how it went in the comments below!
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