DIY Monogram Suede Baby Booties
with StripFlock® Pro Heat Transfer Vinyl
Have you ever seen a plain suede purse, jacket, or pair of shoes and thought to yourself- I wonder if I could decorate that with heat transfer vinyl? Well, the short answer is- YES, but you’ll need to take extra caution. The long answer explains what I mean by “extra caution” and we’ll get into that in just a sec. By the end of this post you’ll be ready to give suede a go!
The start of any project is the same- cut and weed your HTV. I’m using StripFlock® Pro HTV because I love the fuzzy texture on top of something already soft like suede.
Before applying the heat transfer vinyl, I tested for heat sensitivity on the bottom of one suede boot with my iron on the “Cotton Blend” setting which is 2 settings below the highest setting on my iron. Normally, we recommend applying StripFlock Pro with a higher setting like the the cotton/linen setting, but because suede is actually just another form of leather and leather is almost always heat sensitive, I decided to start with a lower temperature. If you’re using a heat press, I’d suggest keeping your temperature between 270°F – 280°F to avoid scorch marks.
Even with a low temperature, you still face another obstacle for suede appearing discolored- the pressure that has to be applied. Suede and faux suede have a nap to the fabric that can get pressed down and may appear lighter in color. You can see exactly where the corner of my iron was in the picture above and on the right. In most cases, you can go back over the area with your fingers to rub away the lines and re-fluff the fibers until you forget they ever existed.
Before pressing though, you’ll want to stuff the shoe with a heat transfer pillow so the application area is higher than the seams and becomes one smooth surface. Afterwards you can center the HTV, place a heat transfer cover sheet over everything and press for 15-20 seconds. For more information on heat transfer pillows, watch this video!
Peel away StripFlock Pro’s carrier while hot and re-fluff suede’s fibers like I mentioned previously.
Repeat everything on the second suede boot, and that’s all there is to it!
The secrets to ironing on suede are out of the bag! Keep them just a click away when you pin the image below to your Pinterest boards.
I have a beautiful cream suede-like coat that unfortunately has a large patch of dried wood varnish on it – towards the bottom of the coat. What is the best way to patch it – its expensive so Im rather hesitant to try anything.
Hi there! If you want to cover the stain with Heat Transfer Vinyl, I would suggest using the lower temperature application method to reduce the risk of further damaging the suede. There may be other ways to cover the stain, but unfortunately I do not have experience with those products so I cannot advise on them.
Thank you so much for posting this. It is very helpful!
Did you try to use a piece of fabric to remove/pick up any stain that might lift with heat. Place the fabric in between the suede and iron, heat gently. See if any comes up before applying appliqué.
Hi Jackwelyn! Most of the “stains” are just fibers that have been pressed down while applying the HTV. Once you rub your hand over the fibers, the flattened pieces lift back up and the color appears normal again.
Hello, have you tried using the tshirt transfer paper on faux suede before? If so, what were the results?
Hi CiCi! We have tried most Siser HTV on faux suede with successful results.