because it is only around the narrow outer perimeter of the applique on fabric frame 10 moreover both the fabric frame 10 and its thermally activated polyurethane adhesive coating have the ability to stretch and recover as the garment is pulled which prevents the adhesive bond from sheering a common cause of numbers or characters detaching from the garment the resulting applique 2 provides a robust and launderable aesthetic but does not substantially change the physical and visual characteristics of the substrate to which the applique 2 is applied moreover since the outer periphery of the fabric frame 10 is slightly larger than the central fabric panel both frame 10 and dye sublimated borderline blue remain visible the color of the fabric frame 10 is preferably chosen with regard to the color of the central fabric panel 20 to contrast or accentuate those color s thereby providing an aesthetically pleasing color contrast and embroidered appearance preferably a 3 mm margin at the edge of the central fabric panel 20 and extending onto the fabric frame 10 is printed using dye sublimation in a third color blue is shown to add further color contrast and accentuate the embroidered appearance fig3 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary sequence of construction steps for manufacture of the heat activated applique 2 one skilled in the art will understand that there are suitable variations and alternatives to the above described production process and the following is meant to serve as but one non limiting example as seen in step 100 beginning with the knitted woven fabric blank the entire blank is coated with the polyurethane adhesive e g bemis sewfree u2122 3206d adhesive at step 200 the fabric blank is.