Discovered a trick for getting vinyl to stick to canvas totes

I run a small side hustle making custom totes for local craft fairs in Portland. Every time I tried heat pressing vinyl onto canvas totes, it would peel off after a few washes. I tried higher temps, longer press times, nothing worked. Then I hit on pre washing the totes with no fabric softener and spraying a thin layer of adhesive spray before pressing. I set the heat press to 320 degrees for 15 seconds with medium pressure. So far I've done 30 totes this way and zero peeling after 5 washes. Has anyone else tried a similar pre treatment for tricky fabrics?

1 comments

1 Comment

martinez.val22h ago

HOLD ON. I gotta push back here because I've been making totes for years and NEVER had peeling issues with just a good quality heat press vinyl and proper temp. You're basically adding an extra step AND using adhesive spray which is gonna make the fabric stiff and weird feeling. I've washed my totes dozens of times with regular detergent and they hold up fine at 300 degrees for 12 seconds. Maybe your vinyl is cheap or you're not letting the tote cool down completely before handling. Adding spray adhesive feels like a bandaid for a different problem.