Badge Magic is THE DEVIL!!!

[The Latin Scot]

Okay, it's a dramatic title, but I have to vent now or I am going to end up chucking some poor little Scout out the window during Den Meeting tonight.

Last night I received a huge box FULL of uniforming items that my boys have needed desperately - shirts, hats, pants, belts, everything. It was an honest-to-goodness miracle - I had been praying for an economic way to get all my Webelos into the tan uniforms, and this came just at the right moment. Prayers ANSWERED!

HOWEVER

As I was combing through the shirts to clean and mend them, I found that most of them still had their old patches attached. Rank emblems, old CSP's, random awards, et cetera. So I took out my trust seam-ripper so I could get all these shirts ready for use by a fresh new Scout. Normal work, right? BUT ALAS! Many, SO MANY of these shirts were caked in that accursed BADGE WITCHCRAFT that some are all but unsalvageable! Some damage I have been able to conceal under new CSP's, troop numerals, what-have-you, but the ugly stains, the layers of residue - it makes the lovely gesture of passing down a Scout shirt into a parade of desperate attempts to make the gift wearable at all! I have spend hours - HOURS trying to use every trick in the book to get that stuff out. To no avail! And yes, I took them to the dry cleaner (and a darn good one too!) - even after all they could do, there are still dark ugly stains on a few of them. So now, many of my boys will indeed be getting tan shirts, but many will sadly bear the unfortunate scars of that wicked goo and the horrible, ugly marks of the shortcut used by people who wouldn't learn how to sew. 

SO! 

The moral of this story - The Latin Scot hates, loathes, despises and abominates "Black Magic" "Badge Magic." Use it if you dare, but heed my warning - that stuff is the devil! THE DEVIL I TELL YOU!

That is all. 

Edited July 3, 2018 by The Latin Scot

[qwazse]

I think you exaggerate. There are not enough lost souls anywhere that Badge Magic could give any devil to promote their project.

[Chadamus]

Depending on the severity of the residue, it may take multiple applications, but

https://googone.com/products/original/

has yet to fail me.

Give it a shot.

[The Latin Scot]

Yes, I tried Goo Gone ... 3 times over. It got a lot of the gunk and residue out, but I notice it leaves its own stain that is just as hard to remove, without removing the dark marks which the Black Magic left in the first place. Sigh ..... thank you the suggestion though; it's much appreciated.

[scotteg83]

I've purchased a few used shirts with Badge magic, and I even made the mistake of badge magic on my first leader shirt (6 years ago or so).

 

 

Luckily, I have had great results with Goo Gone, and only a couple old spots are still seen, but you almost have to see it in the right angle/lighting to notice.  I just say, let them get it dirty at camp, and you'll never notice again.

[MikeS72]

Goo Gone will do a pretty fair job, although you may need repeat applications and some scrubbing with a soft brush (toothbrush works well).

You could also give Goof Off a try.  It is a similar product, but worked pretty well for me, after finding that our Scout Shop used a spray on adhesive before sewing on the council patch, and the international patch.  I had to move that dreaded little purple guy to sew on knots, and found the residue.  Not a happy camper!

I discourage parents from ever using Badge Magic, even to the point of offering to run the patches on my sewing machine.

[thrifty]

I've bought a lot of old shirts that have glued patches.  Boiling the glue loose and gently scraping after pulling out of the pot has worked well on all but one.  There may still be discoloration on the tan shirts but can't complain about free or cheap.  Used troop shirts usually have sew marks from switching patches or stains on them anyway. 

[Chadamus]

2 hours ago, thrifty said:

Used troop shirts usually have sew marks from switching patches

So true. A Scout who has held multiple POR can have a rough looking left sleeve.

[Hawkwin]

I used to use Badge Magic but have since upgraded to hook and loop. You should be able to easily cover the Badge Magic residues with such (it is exactly what I did).

Many entrepreneurs now sell pre-cut "Velcro" for such but I buy my own and cut it to size. Looks more professional (take a look at modern day military uniforms) and it is much easier, especially with the frequency of changes a Webelos tan uniform will experience over the next three years (e.g. journey from cubs through scouts), to pull one patch off and put on another. 

The only hiccup I had with this is the arrow of light patch. Nothing replaces it and either you have something there or you don't. I left that area with the residue (to be covered up late this year I hope).

Do a search for "scout patch Velcro" for some ideas - but pre cut and not. Walmart sells it in 12 x 4 in strips but I bought a small roll off of Amazon.

[cgail]

This place sells pre-cut in all kinds.

 

http://www.thegoosescache.com/index.php/product/tan-shirt-pack/

 

[Cleveland Rocks]

Take it to the dry cleaners.  I have done that with uniform shirts that had Badge Magic applied to them.  Bring a mesh laundry bag and tell them to dry clean the shirt in the laundry bag.  The bag will catch the patches as they fall off. This is actually in the instructions for Badge Magic on how to remove patches and adhesive if you want to start over on a shirt.

I've done this with a number of uniform shirts and they've all come out fine.  The perchlorate used in standard dry cleaning dissolves the adhesive used in Badge Magic.  It works better than Goo Gone.

Not every dry cleaner is willing to do this, though.  Some have refused saying that they don't want the liability if it doesn't come out good. I usually tell them that (a) the shirt is already unwearable as is, so they couldn't possibly do anything worse, and (b) the Badge Magic manufacturer recommends this procedure.

[Treflienne]

On 7/3/2018 at 5:24 PM, MikeS72 said:

even to the point of offering to run the patches on my sewing machine.

 

On 7/4/2018 at 10:11 AM, thrifty said:

Used troop shirts usually have sew marks from switching patches or stains on them anyway. 

 

23 hours ago, Chadamus said:

A Scout who has held multiple POR can have a rough looking left sleeve.

Hand sew any patch that you think you might someday move or remove.   Comes off without leaving all the marks that machine-sewing does.   (Looks better, too.)   Best way to hold the patch in place while sewing is with masking tape -- since straight pins don't do well with the thick plastic-backed patches.

[blw2]

I agree with The Latin Scot.

I used that stuff for a bit when son first started cubs, but not for long.  I used it as an opportunity to show my kids how to do basic rudimentary sewing.

Through the years, I saw so many patches half hanging on with the other half a sticky black mess caked with sand and the Lord only knows what else!

Side note comment...with two girls in Girl Scouts, I find it funny in a way that most of their patches are iron on.  I want to say it's ironic even, given the stereotypical notion that sewing is something that women like to do, or at least do even if they may not particularly enjoy it, but saying this I'm sure will raise ire in some....  Anyway, since DW isn't a sewer I've done I think 100% (at least 99.9992%) of the sewing and ironing on of my daughter's patches too...or at least oversaw the operation showing and helping them to do it.  (thanks to my mom, who used to do a lot of mending and even sewing new curtains and such, and a lot of clothes for her and my sister).  I used to sew my daughters' patches on too, even the iron on ones, because they will always pull up on the edges and give that same dirty gooey mess.  I've come around to just ironing them on now...and the ones that are not iron on, I glue on with shoe goo (or whichever of the Goop glue varieties I have on hand, they are all the same stuff by the way).  My reasoning is that these uniforms are worn so infrequently, and in the big scheme of things they are not used for all that long before they get a new sash or uniform of a different color, so I figure what's the point of all that work.  They aren't likely to be donated either, so...

[Treflienne]

My experience has been with GUSUA badges/patches.   I always told the girls to sew on the patches.   If you iron them on they very quickly fall off,  even when the girls wear the vests/sashes infrequently.  

[blw2]

23 hours ago, Treflienne said:

My experience has been with GUSUA badges/patches.   I always told the girls to sew on the patches.   If you iron them on they very quickly fall off,  even when the girls wear the vests/sashes infrequently.  

I have found that if you iron them on hard and long...longer than I think it should be, more than the directions say....then they have a very firm hold...but then I haven't had a long haul test....so far they've only had each a couple years before they get the next color....(daisy, Brownie, junior,...)