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Can You Use Hot Glue on Fabric? – Complete Guide

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Written by: Diana Ploscaru

Updated:

Can You Use Hot Glue on Fabric? – Complete Guide

This article will talk about whether you can use hot glue on fabric or not.

The short answer is “yes,” you can use hot glue on the fabric.

It dries quickly, is durable under pressure, and remains flexible for extended periods.

Can You Use Hot Glue on Fabric?

However, you should know a few things before starting to use hot glue on fabrics:

1. Clean the Glue Gun Tip

Before you do any gluing, ensure the glue gun tip is clean from any dried glue.

Use scrap paper to press down against the tip and see if something sticks. If this doesn’t work, scrape the glue gun’s tip against something rigid.

But a word of warning – don’t touch the tip after you’ve turned on the glue gun. It’ll be scorching hot because that’s how glue guns work.

It’ll burn the paper or whatever material you use to clean the tip.

2. Plan Ahead

When you want to glue fabric with a hot glue gun, plan where you want the stitches to be before you start gluing.

You can do this by simply putting both pieces of fabric next to each other and seeing how you want them to fit.

Then, cut little holes in the places where you want the glue to go.

3. Use The Appropriate Tip

You need a specific glue gun tip depending on the fabric you’re using. Is the fabric thin and see-through, or is it heavy and thicker?

If it’s thin, then go with a thin glue gun tip. It has a softer touch, and you’re less likely to ruin anything if you do something wrong.

On the other hand, if the fabric is thick and hardy, you’ll want to choose a thicker glue gun tip because it can support more weight when you glue the fabric down to another object.

The thicker tip releases a more concentrated and larger stream of glue which has a stronger hold.

4. Use Low Temperatures

When using a hot glue gun, always start with the lowest temperature just to check things out.

You want to be sure that the glue gun won’t melt your fabric or any other material you’re gluing with it.

The adhesive properties of the hot glue have different effects on various materials.

Use lower temperatures to test things out and check your limits.

If everything appears good, you want to go to a higher temperature and speed things up.

In any case, a glue gun should work perfectly for most types of fabric.

5. Select Your Color

Every hot glue comes in multiple colors, so make sure the glue fits your fabric’s color before gluing.

Once you apply it, there’s no way to remove it entirely, and the fabric will also be ruined.

You can test things out by using the glue gun on some rags and see the glue’s color.

If it matches the fabric, then go ahead and bond it nicely! If it doesn’t, then buy another color of hot glue.

Wrap Up

In conclusion, you can indeed use hot glue to bond fabrics. The only real difference is what tip you’re using.

Otherwise, hot glue can handle both natural and synthetic fabrics without problems.

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