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No fun removing badge magic - butons melted off


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So my son has moved from a pack to a troop andwanted a few patches moved around to his troop shirt. we had used badge magic to put the patches on and never had an issue. like the website stated, i went to a dry cleaner that used 'perc' in hopes of dissolving all of the stuff off. when i picked the shirt up this morning, it was missing some buttons. i talked to the owner and he told me when the shirt was in the solution every single one of the buttons "melted" off. it even left a stain on the shirt that looked like he spilled chocolate milk or coffe down the front of the shirt.

 

the place had sewn on generic brown buttons - but missed the pockets and shoulder loops on my sons shirt. the other 2 leader shirts of mine came out with no button issues. i had him remove buttons from one of my shirts (they didnt look bad - i would rather his shirt be perfect than mine to tell the truth).

 

and for those wondering - there is a slight discoloration after the badges removed - though the area will be sewn over with new patches. when i originally put the patches on, we ironed the patches and badge magic on - and i saw that this is not recommended. but hey - the patches always stayed on and we never had an issue with them peeing up on the edges.

 

so my questions are - have any of you ever had this happen? where can i get replacement buttons that look right?

 

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Check with your local national scout shop. At mine we have a baggie of old and new buttons. We just give them away when someone asks for 1 or 2. Never needed to replace a whole shirts worth.

 

Also inquire at your scout shop about a replacement shirt. National lifetime guarentees all garments. The fact that 2 other shirts survived the cleaners and 1 didn't could be seen as a defective product.

 

Good luck.

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I have seen what badgemagic does when patches come off.. Ick!.. I am so glad I never used it, though in cub scouts those little arrowheads drove me crazy (especially when I needed a new shirt as he grew out of one).. And the merit badge sash was no picnic sewing all the MB's onto..

 

Was so glad when the troop started asking the scouts to sew their own badges on their uniforms (a form of be self-sufficient).. Although this causes laughter as they sew the patch to the pocket so the pocket doesn't work.. Close up an armhole, or sew the patch & shirt to the pants they are wearing..

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thanks for the info on the scout shop - ours is a national shop too and i am going to talk to them later today. the only thing is i had them raid my leader shirt for buttons since i would rather my son be taken care of.

fortunately - the dry cleaner worked extra on his shirt to get it cleaned as the melted buttons stained the shirt. there are still a couple minor stains on my shirt - but they aren't too noticeable.

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These new shirts are nylon - at least the one I have. My thoughts are why in the world would you ever want to take a nylon shirt to the dry cleaners. The whole advantage of the nylon is that it is wash-n-wear, easy to wash - in water - and easy to dry, with no wrinkles or problems. I remember years ago taking Supplex shirts and pants on a lightweight trip to Italy that I could easily wash in the sink and have them dry by morning. One of our other den leaders took his brand new Scout shirt to the dry cleaners after the first time he wore it and it came back permanently discolered with pink spots all over it. That nylon does not work well with dry-cleaning chemicals.

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DRM,

 

The way to get the patches and Badge Magic residue off is to take the items to the dry cleaners. otherwise it leaves a horrible mess.

 

Needle and thread is the way to go! I used the older Badge Bond stuff one time to try it out, as I refuse to recommend anything I haven't either used or seen used and want. HORIBLE STUFF!

 

 

 

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Moose,

 

I've been sewing my patches on for years and I still sew pockets shut, sleeves shut and to the pants I'm wearing.

 

I have discovered that if one puts a small notebook in the pocket, or down the sleeve (roll up a spiral notebook, jam it down the sleeve), it keeps the needles from coming into contact with the other fabric below.

 

As far as sewing to my own pants? I now have to make sure no matter what I'm doing I have to keep the work up in my hands.

 

After tearing out hundreds of stitches over the years, one eventually does learn. :)

 

When all is said and done, as one can tell from this thread (no pun intended) that tearing out stitches is still a better way to go that trying to remove Badge Magic gunk.

 

Your mileage may vary,

 

Stosh

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I learned as a young scout,that if I was going to get anything sewn on my uniform I was going to have to do it myself. So I had my grandmother show me how to stitch a patch on my uniform.

Been doing it myself ever since.

I even pulled out a needle and thread and stitched patrol patches on all my fellow patrol members shirts, the first weekend of wood badge. Foxes rule.

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Jeff, This is a known issue with a very few BSA uniform shirts. Sometimes suppliers get buttons that do not meet BSA specifications. BSA will replace the shirt for you at no charge. Just take it too a council store or send it to BSA Supply Division (see Scoutstuff.org) and they will take care of it.

 

The slight discoloration (other than from the buttons) is Badge Magic residue that was not dissolved by the dry cleaning. It is caused by ironing on the badges or ironing over them to heavily. This melts the adhesive into the weave of the fabric. Don't worry, you can get your uniform back into First Class condition!

 

If you are putting another patch in the same place, you can ignore it and put the new patch on right over the old spot.

 

If it will show, use a solvent such as Goo Gone or Goof Off to dissolve the residue. This is explained in detail on the Badge Magic website in the FAQ section and there is even a video of the procedure at http://www.badgemagic.com/info_pages/index.cfm?fuseaction=all&parent_id=30.

 

The short version is to squirt the solvent on the stain and soak it up on the back side with a paper towel. Rubbing will help. Repeat this until the stain is gone. It may take several applications if the badges have been in place awhile.

 

If you continue to have a problem, the folks at Badge MAgic will help you. Just e-mail them at info@badgemagic.com.

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