Iron-ons and non woven bags

[CheriePenguin]

Quick question. Can you use iron-on transfer paper onto one of the "non-woven" tote bags?
I'm using the little tote bags (from the dollar store) as pockets on my FE. I'm sewing the bags onto my fabric for the FE, and want to add customization to each bag. Would an iron-on thing work, or will I need to sew fabric onto the front of the bag and then iron-on onto the fabric?

(added... ) Some additional research seems to imply it's likely the bag would melt if ironed.
Would a sticker stick? Or should I just glue a printed paper on?
Any other ideas?

(I say me/I, but my Mom is helping me with the sewing parts!)
Thanks!

 

[PirateMermaid]

You could test a small section of one of the bags to see if it would melt with the iron.

What I've done before is use fabric markers to draw or copy designs onto bags.

 

[BD Welsh]

An iron would most probably melt it. If you really like the look of the iron-on patch, you could glue it to the tote. I'd get a good mutli-surface glue like E6000, and test it on a patch and tote you wouldn't mind throwing away, just to see if it will hold or if it will start to peel after a few days. Or, you could sew the patch to the tote. Get thread to match the outer border of the patch and do a small to medium modified running stitch over the outer edge. You would start your stitch on the inside of the tote, come up on the inside line of the patch border, cross over the border and go down on the outside edge of the border back into the tote. Angle your needle inward (towards the inside of the patch) as you go back down into the tote -this will help in the hiding the stitches. Go over 1/2 a cm or so, come up through the tote to the inside edge of the border, cross over the border and go down on the outside edge of the border back into the tote.....repeat, repeat, repeat. Depending on the thickness of the tote and patch, you're probably going to need a needle made for heavy weight fabrics/upholstery and a good thimble!

If you have borderless patches then you can do a closely spaced running stitch 1/16" from the edge of the patch. Again, pick a thread color that matches the patch background you will be sewing on to help hide uneven stitches. Hope that helps some.

 

[CheriePenguin]

Thanks for the ideas!
I ended up laminating my paper designs and testing various glues to glue them onto a sample bag - Elmer's, low heat hot glue, and later I may try super glue as a back-up. The low heat hot glue has worked very well so far (the Elmer's didn't hold past a day or two).
We added a little fabric embellishment that we sewed onto 2 of the bags as well.