If you find a tear, rip or hole in your latex garment, it can be despairing. You may not want to do a patch on the inside because you can see the outline of the patch on the outside and the line of the tear. If you have a tear, rip or hole in your latex, you can use a latex appliqué to cover the area! Perhaps you have a stain or mark that you want to cover. A latex appliqué will not only reinforce the area damaged but also hide the damage beneath a decorative latex design. A latex appliqué can be any shape, symbol, image or text to cover the tear, rip or hole (see below example of trim appliqué)
See examples of latex appliqué HERE
What sort of latex appliqué can I do on a latex garment?
Here are some examples of latex appliqués you can use on your latex garment to cover a tear, rip or hole.
What do you need to apply a latex appliqué ?
First, you need to gather your latex making kit (You can see what you need: HERE ). You will also need your printer and adhesive back sticky printer paper to print your shape, symbol, image or text design. A pair of very sharp pointed scissors or a scalpel to cut out the design printed in the adhesive back printer paper. Baking sheet paper in order to apply the latex appliqué smoothly to your latex garment. Latex sheet 0.40mm too 0.80mm in a colour of your choice.
How do you apply the latex appliqué ?
You begin by cleaning your latex sheet on the shiny side clear of any talc and use your latex cleaner. Peel the adhesive back off your printed design and carefully lay on to the shiny side you cleaned. Smooth outwards to stick to the latex sheet well, checking to see if any air bubbles occurred and if need by peel off to reapply or use a hypodermic needle to suck out air.
How to cut out the appliqué design?
Next, you use your sharp scissors to cut out the design printed on the adhesive back printer paper applied on the latex sheet. You can carefully use a scalpel to cut out the shape, laying the design on a cutting board and tracing the outline with the scalpel. Using your rotary cutter for some areas is useful as well.
Can you use a laser cutter?
The ultimate way to cut out a design to apply as an appliqué is using a laser cutter, however a cheap laser cutter is still a few hundred to thousands of pounds. The benefits are endless for latex appliqué and latex designs when using a laser cutter. You can create lace latex edging for your latex garments and very detailed elaborate designs. However, if you don't have a laser cutter, a pair of sharp scissors will do.
How do you make sure the appliqué is aligned and straight?
Prepare the area to be applied with latex cleaner. Lay out your cut out latex appliqué on to the garment to check placement. Use a gel pen to place markers for placements and alignment or sketch around the design. Apply the glue.
Do you need to stabilise the tear, rip or hole behind?
Sometimes it is a good idea to apply a latex patch on the inside of the garment if you latex garment has a tear, rip or hole. This is important if the damage is large and you need to stabilise the area before applying a latex applique on the front. You can see below the use of a patch inside of a latex shirt over a long tear and latex trim applique applied on the front to cover the area.
How do you glue a latex appliqué to a garment?
Apply the latex Bostick glue to the area on the latex garment and the back of the latex appliqué and allow to fully dry. The adhesive back printer paper should stay in place and stabilise the design when glue is applied, so leave the paper in place. Lay the baking sheet on the latex garment over the are and lay the latex appliqué on the baking sheet. You can see the outline you placed through the baking sheet, for alignment. Slowly, pull the baking sheet out from between the latex garment and latex appliqué to smoothly glue together. Smooth with your hand or gently use the seam roller to bond the latex appliqué to the latex garment. Cut the design into smaller sections if the design is big.
How do you remove the adhesive printer paper from the latex appliqué?
Using the latex cleaner, and the flint free wipes or kitchen roll, carefully apply the chemical to the adhesive printer paper on the latex appliqué. Once the paper is wet, it will be easy to peel away from the latex beneath (see video below) Take your time to soak the paper with cleaner and peeling away the paper, cleaning away an excess latex Bostick glue from the surrounding area. Allow to dry and if there are any air bubbles, suck out with a hypodermic needle. The latex will relax back flat once the latex cleaner evaporates. Let dry for at least 24 hours for the bond to cure fully before dressing in the latex.
Below was a tear on a catsuit covered with a corgy dog blue latex appliqué.
That's everything you need to know on how to apply a latex appliqué over a tear, rip or hole in your latex garment! A great way to update your latex collection or repair a damaged area.
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