Oli and Alex Iron On Letters Patches

Ordered in ‘X’, in black with white. The black part is a dense, thick fabric and the white outline is embroidery. I chose this style over the easier to find looped chenille versions; while chenille patches are more true to the classic varsity letter look, the chenille tends to too easily pull then grow fuzzy/look prematurely worn out. Since I bought this to use on a bag, I needed something more hardy. I was stoked to find the patch is made very well, great quality. No dangling threads, uneven embroidery, or any wonky flaws. I appreciate that it looks identical to what is shown online and the dimensions were as described. I did have some trouble getting it to adhere… which surprised me because a coarse cotton like a canvas bag can take super high heat, yet the patch was pretty stubborn. I eventually got it to properly bond but did experience some color transfer on the very top of one of the corners, this despite using a thin towel to protect the patch. A little of the black rubbed into the bright white, making a dark gray smudge. It’s not very noticeable but if you’ve not done much ironing-on, I can’t say this is the easiest patch I’ve ever worked with… so newbies: be careful. Even though I was eventually content with the bond, I decided to go ahead and hand sew it too, as backup. If you don't have a sewing machine (I don't), use a thimble because dang, it’s a thick patch and my poor finger was sore the next day. Some iron-on patches don’t launder well and since I have no idea if I’ll ever need to machine wash this bag, I opted for this extra (probably unnecessary) insurance. With help from this patch and after applying some grommets along the strap, I think my plain, boring tote bag looks pretty fun now. I will definitely seek out this brand again… even though the iron-on part wasn’t the best I’ve ever used, the patch itself looks really fantastic and I’m very satisfied with the quality v the price point. However, if you want this as an iron-on only, you can’t/won’t opt for sewing it, well, chose your material very carefully and know you may not get a hardcore bond.