Patching thin material

My sister has a very nice top made from an orange broomstick skirt that I did for her. Less then a month later she brings it in and shows me large areas of packing tape on the underside holding several tears together.

I was not a happy camper because patching gauzy material is  pain in the caboose. Sewing looks ugly, patches are too heavy and heat bond only on the tear leaves the area flat. Then I had one of my weirder ideas. I needed texture and I needed something to match the color and weight.

I put down the heat bond first then pulled a lot of thread into a tangled mess and positioned it over the bonding. There was paper underneath and I used some on top to  protect the iron.

I could have left it at that but the first time it was washed the thread would catch and fall of so I used some sheer ribbon that I had left and some more heat bond. Because the sheer mesh will let the adhesive seep through be sure to use the paper and peel off while still hot.

It is not perfect but not as noticeable either. In addition there is no heavy patch to drag the gauze off balance nor is the area all flattened.