How to Fix a Hole in a Sweater

1. 1

   Step 1: Find the Hole and Look at the Broken Knit Loops

   Watch this step · 0:20

   Enlarge

   Spread the sweater out flat with the damage in the middle and good light falling on it. Run a needle tip around the edge of the hole. Knit fabric is one long strand looped through itself, so a hole means a few of those loops have snapped and the rest are pulling away from the gap.

   Check how far the damage runs. A hole the size of a pea takes a couple of minutes. If the wool around it feels thin, the repair has to reach out into sound knitting on every side.

   Tip:

   Slide a darning mushroom or a piece of card under the hole before you start. It stops you stitching the front and back of the sweater together, which is the most common way this repair goes wrong.

   Mark step done

   Used in this stephand sewing needleswooden darning mushroom

   Back to all steps

2. 2

   Step 2: Cut a Length of Thread to Match the Sweater

   Watch this step · 0:55

   Enlarge

   Ordinary sewing thread is all this takes. No yarn, and no need for an exact match. Hold a couple of spools against the knit and pick whichever one disappears fastest. Cut a length about as long as your forearm. Anything longer tangles on itself while you work.

   Repair What You Wear stitches this whole repair in bright yellow, which is for the camera rather than the sweater. She switched to a contrasting color after viewers said a matched thread was too hard to follow on screen.

   Tip:

   Wool is rarely one flat color. Look at the knit in daylight and match the lightest tone you can see in it. A slightly light thread reads as a highlight. A dark one reads as a line.

   Mark step done

   Used in this stepall-purpose sewing threadembroidery scissors

   Back to all steps

3. 3

   Step 3: Turn the Sweater Inside Out and Anchor the Thread

   Watch this step · 1:25

   Enlarge

   Turn the sweater inside out so the purl side faces up, the side where the knit reads as rows of small bumps. Every stitch happens here. Working from the back keeps the thread buried in the thickness of the wool instead of sitting on the surface.

   Begin about half an inch away from the hole. Take the needle under the back of one loop and wind the thread around it two or three times. That holds the thread with no knot. Do not push the needle all the way through to the front or the color will show.

   Tip:

   Knots are the enemy in knitwear. A knot on the inside rubs against skin and works itself loose in the wash. Winding around a loop holds better and leaves nothing to feel.

   Mark step done

   Used in this stephand sewing needlesneedle threader

   Back to all steps
4. 4

   Step 4: Catch the Vertical Knit Loops Beside the Hole

   Watch this step · 1:45

   Enlarge

   Look at the knit right beside the gap. The strands running up and down are the vertical loops, the chains of the knitting, and those are what you rebuild. Slide the needle under one of them at the edge of the hole and draw the thread through.

   Where a loop has visibly split, catch that one. Bring the needle back out a loop further along and keep every stitch shallow so it stays inside the wool. The thread moves through the fabric, not over the top of it.

   Tip:

   If you cannot pick out the loops, lay the sweater on a light surface and tilt it toward a window or a lamp. The structure of the knit shows up far better against a contrasting background than it does on your lap.

   Mark step done

   Used in this stepmagnifying desk lamp with led

   Back to all steps

5. 5

   Step 5: Carry the Needle Up Over the Hole and Back Down

   Watch this step · 2:20

   Enlarge

   Take the thread up across the hole, catch a loop on the far side, then come back down into the loop next along on your own side. That up and over and back down path is the entire repair. Every pass brings one more pair of broken edges together.

   Vary the length of the passes to follow the shape of the hole. A tear is rarely round, and short stitches at the narrow end with longer ones across the middle stop the mend puckering into a point.

   Tip:

   Pull each pass a fraction, no more. Closing the hole is the job of the whole set of stitches, not any single one, and thread hauled tight now will snap the first time the sweater stretches over your head.

   Mark step done

   Used in this stepall-purpose sewing thread

   Back to all steps

6. 6

   Step 6: Work Back Along the Horizontal Loops and Ease the Hole Closed

   Watch this step · 3:58

   Enlarge

   With the vertical loops caught, go back across the mend using the horizontal loops, the small bars that run side to side between the chains. Pick them up the same way, needle under the bar and out again, travelling across the repair.

   This pass is where the hole really closes. Draw the thread a little firmer as you go and the two edges walk toward each other. Ease them together rather than hauling on them. Wool responds to coaxing, and what you are avoiding is a lumpy scrunched bunch sitting in the middle of a smooth sweater.

   Tip:

   Turn the sweater right side out every few stitches and check the front. Loosening a stitch that pulls too hard is quick now. Unpicking a finished mend is not.

   Mark step done

   Used in this stephand sewing needles

   Back to all steps

7. 7

   Step 7: Fasten Off the Thread and Bury the Tail in the Knit

   Watch this step · 4:50

   Enlarge

   Move a short way off the mend into sound knitting and work one or two small stitches to lock the thread, the same wind-around-a-loop move you started with. Then run the needle through the back of a few nearby stitches, pull the thread along and snip it close to the wool.

   Cut it flush and the tail retreats into the knit instead of dangling. Turn the sweater right side out and look. With a close color match the repair reads as a slight kink in one line of knitting and nothing more.

   Tip:

   Give the mend a steam to settle it. Hover the iron above the wool and let the steam do the work, because the soleplate must never touch the knit. Steam draws the fibers back together. A hot plate flattens them and leaves a shine.

   Mark step done

   Used in this stepembroidery scissorshandheld garment steamer

   Back to all steps

Keep going

How to Sew a Hole or Tear in Jeans by Hand

9 steps · about 8 minutes

→

Tools we recommend

• E6000

  E6000 Craft Adhesive, Clear (3.7 oz)

  The industrial-strength craft glue that bonds glass, wood, ceramic, metal, fabric, and concrete. The one adhesive most craft projects reach for.

• Gorilla

  Gorilla Dual-Temp Full-Size Hot Glue Gun

  Dual-temp so it handles delicate florals and heavy materials alike. A precise nozzle and built-in stand make it the everyday craft-table gun.

• OLFA

  OLFA 18" x 24" Self-Healing Cutting Mat

  The pro-standard cutting surface. Gridlines for square cuts, self-healing so blades never leave grooves, and big enough for paper, fabric, and leather.

Tags