E:\PAGESEW\RUFFTEXT\\ROUGH024.TXT
Rough Sewing: File 24: Mending
See also: File 10: Edge Finishes: False Hems
MENDING
Table of Contents:
General principles
Missing Stitches
Missing Fabric
Darning
darning hand knits
mending factory knits
darning woven fabrics
Patching &&
Replacing Fasteners
Bed Linen
Mending Woven Wool
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General principles
==================
Whole books have been written about mending, so
this chapter will be rather sketchy no matter how long
it turns out to be.
Though I can give you specific instructions for
making things, only examples and general instructions
can be given for repairing things -- you have to deal
with what you've got, so ingenuity is always in demand.
Mending can be divided roughly into replacing
missing stitches and replacing missing fabric.
Roughly. Sometimes the stitches are missing
because the fabric has worn away.
Missing Stitches
================
The easiest damage to repair is missing stitches.
Sometimes you can re-sew a popped seam the same way it
was sewn in the first place. More often, you will have
to replace machine stitches with hand stitches, because
you can't get at the spot with a machine, or because
you need to re-use the original holes.
Usually, you will replace machine stitching with
back stitches -- the strain that broke the original
stitches is probably too much for running stitch, and
closed back stitch looks like machine stitching on one
side.
Sometimes you can't get at the inside of the seam,
and must slip-stitch it from the outside.
Should you need to simulate the appearance of
machine stitching on both sides, use double running
stitch.
When possible, thread the ends of the broken
threads into a needle and weave them back into the
remaining stitches, or slip them between layers, or
hide them inside a thick fabric. Or continue the back-
stitch for half an inch or so to each side of the gap,
securing the machine stitches by overlapping.
When machine-stitching a gap, take the first stitch
just beside the line of stitching so that the ends
won't pop through to the right side, then stitch
exactly on the old stitches almost to their end, stitch
on the other side of the old stitches so that *their*
ends won't pop through, and reverse the procedure on
the other side of the gap.
Missing Fabric
==============
When fabric is missing, you can darn it, sew on a patch,
glue on a patch, or darn on a patch. Or cut the garment
shorter, or remove the damaged fabric and replace it.
When you glue on a patch, it is wise to sew around the
edges to prevent them from working loose. A patch with
loose edges will eventually peel off, but the glue will hold
if peeling doesn't have a place to start.
Darning
=======
Machine Darning
---------------
When appearance is not important, you can darn by
machine. If appearance is *really* unimportant, you
can use up the left-overs and mistakes in your thread
collection -- thread too weak for sewing may be plenty
strong for darning.
Darning by machine requires a steady hand. As
compensation, if you do a lot of it, you'll be able to
do free-motion embroidery.
A special darning foot helps a great deal, but you
can darn with no foot at all in the machine. There is
also a special needle for free-motion embroidery, with
a spring to hold the fabric down.
In any case, set the stitch length for zero and, if
possible, lower or cover the feed dogs. You must lower
the presser foot bar even if there is no presser foot
on it -- the machine releases the thread tension when
the foot is up.
Starching the fabric helps, and stretching it in an
embroidery hoop is essential. There are special thin
hoops that can slip under the presser foot, but any
hand-held hoop can be used. When using an ordinary
hoop, you will probably have to slip it under with the
darning foot off, and may be obliged to remove the
needle. Make sure the fabric is on the bottom when the
side you want to stitch on is up! (When the hoop is
used for hand embroidery, it's the other way around.)
I have seen darns made by swirling around
chaotically, but you get a flatter darn if you make two
sets of parallel lines, intersecting at right angles.
Make each line extend well into the sound fabric, a
different distance for each line, so that the ends
don't line up to make a stress riser. You need only
one or two lines on each side of the weak spot, so the
darn will approximate a Red Cross emblem in shape.
Sharp turns are to be avoided as much as you can:
a sharp corner is a good place to start a tear. If you
make the lines of stitching twice as far apart as you
want them, then fill in with a second pass, it will be
easier to make smooth turns.
You can cover a hole with a grid of stitching, then
make a second, smaller darn to thicken the thin spot.
A better plan is to glue a patch of thin fabric into
the hole before darning. Iron-on fabric will do, since
the primary strength of the darn comes from the lines
of stitching. Starch, glue-sticks, and various iron-on
tissues and webs can also baste a patch in place. Even
when the glue is supposed to be permanent, presume that
it is going to wash out, and stitch accordingly.
Patch-reinforced darns merge gradually into patches
darned or quilted onto the fabric. Lines of stitching
that darn on a patch will be farther apart than
stitching that is intended to replace fabric. You can
zig-zag over the raw edges after darning, but this is
seldom necessary.
Darned-in patches cover both extremes: I've
described the quick-and-dirty minimum-effort patch
above, and in the section on mending woven wools, I'll
describe the invisible-mending patch that is darned in
by hand.
Hand Darning
------------
Mending hand knits
------------------
Darning wool is no longer available, so you will have to
use embroidery wool.
Persian wool is good for darning worsted-weight knits,
and for replacing fingering-weight that's missing
altogether.
DMC makes a very fine embroidery wool they call
"Medici;" it's a bit hard and tight, but it's the only
easily-available wool fine enough to darn factory-knit
fabrics. Two or more strands of Medici make a flatter darn
than a single strand of a heavier yarn. (Medici is now
available only at thrift shops and "we cleaned the
warehouse" sales. Use the finest crewel wool you can
find.)
Some yarns spun for warp are strong enough to darn with;
if you know a weaver, ask him to save selected thrums -- the
waste bits of yarn that are left when fabric is cut off a
loom are plenty long enough for darning and embroidery.
Since darning uses up thread faster than sewing or
embroidery, you may need to use longer pieces of yarn than
you would ordinarily. When using an over-long thread, keep
the yarn and its tail about the same length, to minimize
tiresome reaching. This also forces you to shift the needle
every few stitches, which reduces the tendency for the yarn
to wear through where it's folded. If the yarn tends to
twist and snarl, you can combine needle-shifting with
dangling: drop the needle, and wait until it stops
spinning. Then unfold the tail, drop it straight, and wait
until that stops spinning. Then push the needle down half
an inch -- more if you are taking very large stitches -- and
resume work.
When sewing with silk, push the needle up to the
fabric and hold it there while letting the thread
dangle.
Long "darning needles" are for mending woven fabric, and
are not suitable for darning knitwear. Use a short, blunt-
pointed needle with a long eye, just large enough to make a
hole that your doubled mending yarn can pass through easily.
Canvas embroidery is the most common use for needles of this
type, so they are called "Tapestry needles." Look for them
in most of the places that sell hand-sewing needles.
Sharp-pointed needles of the same type are sometimes
useful, particularly when the yarn isn't wool, but your
usual goal will be to encase the worn strands without
piercing them. If you darn with plant fiber or synthetic,
it's a good idea to switch to a sharp-pointed needle for
securing the ends, but wool will hold when merely slipped
under the network of darning.
Work proceeds much more easily if the fabric is
stretched over a hard, smooth, curved surface. An object
put under a worn spot to provide this surface is called a
"darning egg", because the most common type is an egg-shaped
piece of wood mounted on a handle. The handle doubles as a
darning surface for glove fingers. The handles of knives
and kitchen tools have also been used as darning eggs in
glove fingers.
Rock shops sell egg-shaped stones in assorted sizes, and
craft shops sell wooden and plastic eggs. At Easter time,
you can buy hollow eggs that double as a place to store your
needle and yarn. The kind with one transparent end are the
most convenient.
Real eggs have been pressed into service -- it's
considered wise to boil them first, in case a cat catches
its claw in the work, panics, and dashes around smashing the
egg against walls and furniture.
It was a hundred-watt light bulb that met this fate.
Light bulbs are just the right size and shape to darn a
stocking heel, and are always handy, but if the cat is
around, light bulbs in my socks make me nervous.
My grandmother used a small gourd that has a finger-
sized neck and a bulbous bottom. I find my nest of
cylinder-shaped stainless-steel mixing bowls handy when
darning bicycle tights. Look around.
After much experiment, I have concluded that the best
way to darn knitting is to work interlocking rows of
buttonhole stitch, also called "blanket stitch". (Mildred
Graves Ryan calls this "point de venise darning".)
<[photograph at
Point de
Venise: overlapping rows of buttonhole stitch on
the heel of a sock.]>
A buttonhole darn is elastic, it covers the
weakened fibers on both sides, and it can be tapered by
working larger stitches on the sounder parts of the
fabric. If a mitten keeps wearing through at the same
spot, one darn can be worked over another without
making lumps. When filling holes, it can be worked
over horizontal strands thrown across the hole, and
will cover any vertical or odd-angled strands you have
used to stabilize the shape of the hole. You don't
have to cut away odd shreds, but can buttonhole them
into the darn. This helps in "feathering" the edges of
the hole.
Rows of buttonhole should be straight, even when
the hole is round -- curved rows pucker. Usually, I
work parallel to the cross grain, but buttonholing also
works on the vertical grain. Vertical and horizontal
patches of buttonhole darning co-exist peacefully.
Sometimes it's a good idea to work a darn that just
fills in the hole, making the stitches loose enough to
match the thin fabric around the hole, and then work a
reinforcing darn over the entire area. Or one can work
a very loose darn as permanent basting to hold a large
hole in shape while serious darning is done.
I have been known to work a loose woven darn as
scaffolding -- weave a thin yarn up every column of
stitches, being particularly careful to catch the raw
loops at the edge of the hole. Begin in an intact
column so that you'll be able to see where to resume
weaving after crossing the hole. Since weaving up a
column doesn't show on the right side, you can continue
well into the sound fabric to reinforce it against
further wear. Properly, you should break the yarn
after every row to minimize the restriction of stretch,
but you can get away with leaving a small loop where
you turn. Then weave yarns into the rows, weaving over
and under the vertical yarns. I suggest weaving in the
rows only for stocking heels, which tend to have all
the stretch felted out of them anyway.
If the mitten or stocking is light in color, a water-
erasable marker (sold in sewing, embroidery, and quilting
shops) can help you to keep your stitching straight. Before
starting to darn, mark carefully along rows of stitches
spaced about half an inch apart -- or more, or less,
according to the situation.
If you are having a lot of trouble, or want to be
particularly fussy, you can weave a smooth sewing thread
through a row of stitches to serve as a guide. Since you
are working with a blunt needle that doesn't pierce threads,
the contrast thread can be pulled out after you work over
it. Or use a silk thread and leave it in.
Since these threads will be covered by the darning
stitches, I use whatever silk thread I want to get rid of
that isn't a startling contrast to the darning yarn. This
is one time that I think spun-silk thread would be better
than reeled-silk thread, but I won't buy a spool of spun
silk to try it. (Perhaps I will when I've used up all my
old thread of questionable strength.)
At first, I wove the silk over and under whole stitches,
as I do when marking every tenth round in my knitting, but I
soon realized that it was easier and plainer to go under one
leg and over two. That is (being right-handed and therefore
working from right to left), I would go under the left leg
of a stitch, over the next stitch, under the right leg of
the stitch after that, then over the left leg of that stitch
and the right leg of the next stitch to pick up a left leg.
When confronted with a mesh of stitches so thin and
wispy that I was afraid to utter a harsh word in their
presence, I ran a silk guide thread through every stitch of
every row, going under the right legs because it seemed
easier to come up in the stitch.
Be sure the work is well stretched over the darning egg
while marking, so that the ends of the threads won't pull in
when you stretch the fabric to darn. (If you plan to pull
out the thread, you can leave short tails instead.)
Pre-stretching also makes the silk threads somewhat wavy
when the tension is released, which will helps to keep them
from restricting the stretch of the buttonholing. (You are
primarily counting on their slickness, which prevents them
from grabbing the wool threads to hold them back. By the
time they have been worn and washed enough to felt in, they
will be serpentine.)
After I used up my buttonhole twist of doubtful
strength, I selected size A sewing silk of a nondescript
gray, thinking that this color would disappear into the
darn. It slipped out of the needle and disappeared
prematurely. After I'd given up searching for the piece
I'd cut off, I threaded the needle without cutting off from
the spool, wove it through, then pulled it back and cut it
off where I'd begun the stitching. No more losing the
thread, and no more running out.
Where the fabric is thinner, you'll need to make smaller
stitches. This means that you'll usually need more stitches
and rows in the middle than you need around the edges.
This, in turn, means that you'll have to increase, decrease,
and make short rows even if you never darn a curved surface.
To increase, work two stitches in one stitch. If this
seems inclined to pull a hole, make the second stitch
longer, and catch it in the previous row. Or you can make
one stitch over the thread only, and catch the fabric in the
other stitch.
To decrease, skip over a stitch. Try to keep the
stitches uniform. If a narrower-than-average stitch in the
previous row presents itself, skip that one. Stitch as
close as possible to the skipped stitch when working into
the stitches before and after it, so that the stitch which
spans the skipped stitch is as narrow as possible. This
stitch will be wider than average anyway, but the extra
width will be divided between two stitches when you work the
next row. (Since every stitch spans half of each of two
stitches in the previous row, irregularities tend to average
themselves out.)
To turn a short row, make the last stitch less tall than
the others, then put the needle down where you would if you
were making another stitch, and bring it up where you would
have put it down in the next stitch. This causes the top
line of the row to dive down into the top line of the
previous row. Another plan is to slip the yarn under the
top line of the stitch you would have stitched in, then slip
it under the bar between that stitch and the next, and out
under the top line.
If you don't want to begin the next short row from where
you are, slide the thread under the stitches, as if hiding
an end, and end by going down in one stitch and coming up in
the next. (Or by exiting under the top line.)
Try to make your first exercise in darning the covering
of a weakness that you have caught so early that you can
work a uniform net, thin enough not to have a definite edge,
over the entire thin spot and a bit of the sound fabric
around it.
To cover a thinning spot in buttonhole:
Begin by weaving the yarn up a stockinet column the same
way you hide an end when knitting: down in one stitch and
up in the next. Subsequent beginnings should be secured by
sliding them under a row of buttonhole stitches, between the
darn and the fabric. If you want to get an end out of your
way immediately, instead of weaving it into the darn as
suggested below, weave it over and under stitches like the
first beginning. This disposal is particularly suitable
when you have worked the end down too short to thread
into a needle: weave the needle, *then* thread it.
If a short end gives you fits, use a crochet hook to
pull it in. It's usually easier to use the needle, but
"usually" isn't "always". You can also use a fine thread,
as suggested in "Hiding Short Ends" at the beginning of
"Hand-Sewing Stitches"
If the darn is stretched parallel to a hidden end, the
end will pull back into waves and be less inclined to
restrict the stretch of the fabric. It is rare for an end
to get felted into place before it gets stretched, so you
don't have to worry much about ends that are slid in after
the stitches are made. When stitches are worked over a
yarn, the yarn is less inclined to slip, and when both ends
of the yarn are secured before stitches are worked over it,
as sometimes happens when padding threads are thrown across
a hole, you definitely restrict the stretch of the fabric.
Whether working over a yarn is good, bad, or indifferent
depends on the stretch of the yarn, the stretch of the piece
being repaired, and the size of the darn.
Try to put your ends where they will do some good.
You usually should work on the right side. The side
next to the darning egg is smoother and more suitable for
wearing next to the skin. The side that is uppermost when
you are darning has more yarn in it, and is suitable for
taking wear. If the wear came from the inside of the
garment -- perhaps from a ring or an orthopedic device --
turn it inside out, and darn on the side where the wear is.
I'm going to describe the darn as if the rows were
horizontal and the fabric vertical. Turn it to the most-
convenient angle. Right-handers will probably want "up" to
slant away and to the left.
Come up below the worn spot and a little to its right,
and buttonhole over a row of stitches, right to left. Use
the knitting as a guide to make your embroidery stitches
uniform and square, about as high as they are wide. (Making
them narrower without making them shorter is one way to
thicken the middle of a row, but square is the best shape
for working a net over an area.)
When you are a little to the left of the thin spot, end
the row by putting the needle down where you would have
brought it up in making the next stitch. That is, the last
loop is secured by a short straight stitch that ends where
the next loop would have had its corner.
Bring the needle up in the right place to begin the next
row. This stitch is about half as long as the stitches you
have been making, so it's easy to begin the next row too
high. If the previous row was a trifle too long, begin by
working into the last loop. If the previous row was a
trifle too short, work into the straight stitch securing the
last loop as if it were the top of a stitch
Use the columns of knit stitches as a guide for making
the side edges straight, unless you have a reason to make
them some other shape. Try to keep the underneath stitches
vertical.
Work back left to right, turn in the same way, and
continue until your thread gets short.
When changing threads in ornamental buttonhole, one
leaves the last stitch unfinished, and later weaves the end
through the first stitch of the new thread to give the
illusion of an unbroken thread. This is both inconvenient
and undesirable in darning, where the ends are woven in on
the right side. Temporarily secure the old end by taking a
stitch well above the darn, unless you have worked the end
down so short that leaving it flopping doesn't bother you.
Slide the new thread under the row below the last row of
darning, then take a stitch that comes up in the same place
where the old end comes up, and continue darning. When you
have worked a row, thread the old end into a needle and
slide it under the second row from the edge, which is now
the row above the row where you secured the new thread. If
you need to work past the old end, slip the needle under it
to avoid nailing it down prematurely.
When wear begins abruptly, as sometimes happens in
striped stockings when one yarn is more durable than
another, make the row of stitches in the sound fabric twice
as large as you will need in the thin spot, then work
two stitches into every stitch on the second row.
Though working over a thread reduces the stretch of a
darn, a hole fills in so much faster when the stitches are
padded that it is often worth it. You can throw a short
yarn across the hole before each row, weaving the ends well
to both sides of the hole, you can take advantage of ends
that need hiding, or you can stitch across in one direction
and strand back. This last appeals particularly to people
who buttonhole more easily in one direction than in the
other.
Another approach is to first stabilize the shape of the
hole with a loose network or a zig-zag of yarns, and work
over them as you come to them.
All these methods can be combined, of course.
Other darns and patches for hand knits:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An inconspicuous darn is to embroider rows of chain
stitch up the columns of stitches. This does not reinforce
worn fabric, but will protect new fabric from abrasion -- in
the spot where a rough gear-shift lever hits the thumb of a
mitten, for example.
You can cover or replace a strand of yarn by duplicate
stitch or grafting. Since this is tedious work, it's
usually done only when the damaged area is small and the
garment is particularly valuable.
Duplicate stitch is a good "save" when you notice a
defect in knitting yarn after completing the work. Break a
short piece of yarn by pulling fibers, as for splicing, and
put the middle over the weak spot, then darn away from it in
both directions. (Use a crochet hook when the ends get too
short for a needle.) The tapered tails will blend
imperceptably into the original yarn. If the yarn is
untreated wool, this repair will become more firmly attached
and harder to see with wear and washing.
You can duplicate stitch up to a hole and work
nalbinding across it, if you have allowed something that is
worth that much effort to wear into holes. A silk thread or
fine yarn woven into each column of stitches will make the
nalbinding easier.
Some people knit patches, by picking up live stitches at
the bottom of the hole and grafting at the top. The sides
can be sewn, or secured by pulling the frayed yarns through
the stitches. (The turning yarn that spans from one row to
the next is a good place to link.) Weave the frayed ends
into the old fabric, to reinforce it.
It may be a good idea to wrap the turning yarns around a
smooth thread, to make it easier to find the place to link
the worn yarns through.
I've never encountered a hole for which a knitted patch
was suitable, so this description is not from experience.
When the end of a finger, the toe of a sock, the cuff of
a sleeve, or some other extremity becomes worn, it's often
suitable to ravel it out and re-knit it. Sometimes the
original yarn can be re-used for the repair. Wash it first,
to relax the kinks. Overlap the frayed ends, instead of
cutting them off and joining as you would join new yarn.
Make sure you stretch each piece of yarn firmly, to see
whether there is a weak spot in it.
If the extremity was knitted the other way, and won't
unravel from its beginning, snip one thread at the spot
where you want to divide the fabric, and pick it out all the
way around. The piece that falls off usually can be
unraveled from this side, if you need to incorporate the
original yarn into the repair.
Mending factory knits
---------------------
If worth the effort, a factory knit can be darned like
hand knits. If you have matching fabric -- preferably from
a worse-worn copy of the same garment -- it can be patched.
Hand-sew the patch with Medici or spun silk, and overcast
the edges down instead of turning them under.
(Above remarks are for wool; I discard synthetic factory
knits when they are badly worn, so I have no experience to
share.)
Baseball-stitch darning
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A frequent failure in cut-and-sewn garments is fabric
that has worn away along a seam. Seams tend to wear through
at the fold, and a sharp, hard line of overlock stitches may
serve as an anvil on which the fabric can be worn away.
One way to repair such a seam is to re-stitch the seam
with baseball stitch, spaced closely enough to overcast both
raw edges. Since this seam is very flat, it has little
tendency to wear away.
(In some references, baseball stitch is called "antique
seam" because it was used for construction in the days when
fabric was so valuable that allowing it to wear away at the
seams was unthinkable, and so narrow that you were apt to
have seams in places where lumps and ridges are
intolerable.)
First cut away the seam allowances, not only where they
have worn free of the main fabric, but into the sound fabric
on either side. (Baseball stitch is easy to work next to a
previous patch of baseball stitch, so you needn't be
fanatical about preventing future failure.)
Choose a thread that harmonizes with your fabric.
Secure the thread very thoroughly if it is synthetic, merely
hide the end if it is wool, take intermediate precautions
with silk and cotton. Sliding the thread through a serged
seam is a good way to hide an end; taking back stitches in
the overcasting is a good way to secure an end.
Begin stitching a little above the break, stitching
toward the seam from both sides so that the stitches
interdigitate across the seam.
..PICTURE NEEDED HERE
When you get to the break, let each stitch come up in
the gap, so that the edges are overcast and held together by
a figure eight, and the crossing of the threads in the gap
prevents the edges from over-riding one another. Stitch
beyond the end the same way you stitched before the
beginning, and hide or secure the end.
When the gap is too wide for baseball stitch, you can
fill it with one or more vertical threads and darn over
them. If the number of threads is odd, the yarn will come
up through the fabric on one side and go down into the
fabric on the other.
Darning Wovens
--------------
Sometimes the poInt de venise darn described for hand
knits is appropriate for woven fabric. More often, you will
use a woven darn or a running-stitch darn.
You make a running-stitch darn by running back and forth
across the thin spot, stitching parallel to the threads of
the fabric. Leave a very small loop of thread at each place
where you turn to go back, and try not to have all the turns
pulling on the same thread of the fabric.
Sometimes only one set of threads is weak, but usually
you will need a second set at right angles to the first,
making a cross-shaped darn like the machine darn described
above.
If there is a hole in the fabric, darn as for thin
fabric, making the rows of running stitch that cross the
hole closer together than those that are entirely in fabric.
Then lay a second set of running-stitch rows at right angles
to the first one, weaving over and under the strands that
the first set left across the hole.
Most darns are plain tabby weave: over one thread,
under the next, and always go over the threads that the
previous row went under. But it is possible, if the fabric
is coarse or you have very good eyes, to duplicate various
fancy weaves. In this case, you carefully follow the course
of the threads through the fabric, instead of leaving
conspicuous running stitches on all sides of the darn.
If it is difficult to fill up the hole without unduly
crowding the stitches in the thin fabric, space the first
set of threads as for thin fabric all the way across, then
when making the second set of stitches, run the thread up to
the edge of the hole, then chain stitch across it, making
one stitch over each thread all the way across the hole.
You can, of course, begin chain stitching a little before
you actually reach the hole. Chain-stitch darning also
serves when the threads are fuzzy, or for some other reason
you can't see to weave over and under.
&&
Patches
=======
When fabric is worn thin, it may be covered or
replaced with a patch. There are tips on patching
wools and knits scattered through the section on
darning. Here, I will discuss patching in general,
then describe a pieced patch for the crotch of pants.
After determining that the garment is worth
patching, you must ask yourself whether you have
matching fabric, and whether you can tolerate
contrasting fabric.
The best patches are usually taken from a worn-out
garment of the same fabric, second-best, scraps from
making the garment to be mended. New fabric may be
best if you are repairing a spot that takes hard wear
and the fabric around it is still quite sound. New
fabric is contra-indicated when the fabric near the
spot to be mended has worn thin and soft; since a
garment in this state has usually reached slopping-
around status, a contrasting patch of a thinner fabric
is acceptable, and it will cover the damage without
stressing the worn fabric.
EXCERPTS FROM POSTS TO VARIOIUS FORA
stashed here in case bits of them are usable
-------------------
I'd probably steal a patch from the hem to cover
the hole, and sew it on by hand with spaced back
stitches and matching thread. On the side that shows,
make very short stitches parallel to the threads of the
patch, so that they can sink down between them.
A patch should be significantly larger than the
worn area.
Open the hem before sewing on the patch.
If you lack confidence, baste the turn-under of the
patch before pressing it, then baste the patch onto the
dress with thread of a different color and pull out the
first basting. Pressing after basting the patch seems
to make it more willing to stay put while you sew.
If the style of the dress permits, consider
covering the damage with
rick-rack, ribbon, etc.
-------------------
The patching section of the chapter on mending is
expanding like a bowl of yeast -- before I can explain
anything, I have to explain something else first. With
the weather having turned suitable for gardening and
long bike rides, getting it written is going to take a
while.
And what you want to know is much more limited: I
suggested that you cover the damage with a piece of
matching fabric -- if you happen to have some scraps
from making the skirt, use those; if the hem is wide
enough, you can cut a patch out of the part that
doesn't show, then repair the hem with whatever fabric
you have.
The patch must be large enough that all stitches
are taken in sound fabric.
Being denim, the patch will need to have its edges
turned to the wrong side to keep it from ravelling.
I'd suggest cutting the patch square to make turning
the edges under easier. Cut exactly along threads if
you can, as on-grain edges are easier to handle. Don't
forget to allow for both the turn-under and a seam-
allowance clearance around the hole.
Turn the corners first -- if basting the creases
in, fold each corner over your needle to make it keep a
straight line. If pressing, use a thin metal ruler or
a business card. (For such a small patch, basting is
easier.) Then fold all the edges to the wrong side.
You needn't meet in a neat miter at the corners --
there is something to be said for blunt corners on a
patch -- so you can eyeball, rather than measure, all
distances. Denim might hold a crease when pinched; if
not, baste the corner creases in, then pull out those
short bits of thread after basting the edge creases in.
After basting the creases, press the patch.
Everything behaves better after being swatted with an
iron.
Lay the patch over the damage and line up the grain
of the patch with the grain of the fabric. Stick a pin
in to hold it in that position while you baste close
to, but not through, the basting that holds the
creases. Also avoid the line where you intend to place
the final stitching. Remove the basting that holds the
crease, as the basting that holds the patch in place
will now do the job. (Hence my suggestion of using two
colors of basting thread.)
Now spaced-backstitch around, making the stitches
as small as you can manage (but not *smaller*; each
stitch must catch at least two threads of the fabric):
Slide the needle under the patch to hide the end of
the thread; securing the end is not necessary, as
backstitch is in itself an end-securer. Come up close
to the folded edge of the patch. If right handed,
stick the needle in about a sixteenth of an inch to the
right of the place you came up, trying to make this
hole between the same two threads as the hole where you
came up. Bring the needle point up about an eighth of
an inch beyond the place where you came up the first
time. If you can't firmly catch the bottom layer with
a stitch this short, make it a little longer, or make
the stitch in two steps.
Theoretically, the stitches on the back will be
three times the length of the stitches on the front;
ideally, they will be the same length as the stitches
on the front because of slanting through the thickness
of the fabric. Practically: if the thread catches
enough fabric that it isn't going to tear loose, be
happy.
When you get back to where you started, slide the
thread under the patch again, and snip it close to the
fabric while it is under tension, so that the end pulls
back inside.
Remember that I intend to incorporate this
explanation into a work in progress; if you ask for
more information, or find fault with my writing, you
are doing me a favor.
(A rare favor; you'd be amazed at how much work
picking nits is, and how few people are willing to do
it.)
-------------------
&& && &&
One way to patch the crotch in pants
------------------------------------
Pants sometimes wear through at the tops of the
inseams while there is still enough wear left in the
rest of the garment to make it worth your while to mend
them. If you have the original pattern and some
matching fabric, you can replace the worn area with a
gusset.
The best patch fabric is the good parts of a worn-
out garment made from the same fabric; next is scraps
left from making the pants.
Wool scraps will probably match pretty well.
Cotton, particularly blue denim, is likely to have
faded enough to make the patch an embarrassing
contrast.
If the fabric is 100% plant fiber, you can zig-zag
or overlock the edges of a scrap large enough to make
your patch and wash it with your dish towels (or
anything else that you bleach), and dry it in the sun,
until it's a bit less new.
It's best to begin this process before patching
becomes urgent, as it may take a while. Artificial
fading always reduces the life of fabric, so don't do
it unless you need to. Remember that bleach dissolves
animal fibers, and sunlight turns wool yellow.
Having obtained matching fabric, make a gusset
pattern.
Trace off the crotch corners of the pants back and
pants front onto one paper, matching the inseam
stitching lines of the original patterns to make a
single new pattern.
Measure the worn area and mark a larger area on
your pattern, then add a turn-under. Let the outline
of the patch cross the crotch seam line at an angle
between forty-five degrees and a right angle* at both
ends, and curve smoothly everywhere else. Strive for a
shape that might have been sewn into the pants in the
first place. For example, if you got the patch fabric
by converting long pants into shorts, let the gusset
extend all the way to the new hem line. (In this case,
the seam line of the patch will cross the new hem line
at right angles. It might be a good idea to make the
patch half an inch too long and trim it after it's
installed.)
* The patch should have a slight obtuse
point at its seam to correct an illusion that it is
indented there.
Cut two pieces, one right and one left, with the
inseam line on the straight of grain. Mark them so
that you don't forget which side is front and which is
back. Also mark the old inseam line, which is now a
grain line, so that you can match it when installing
the patch.
Sew the pieces together in a mock-fell seam,
pressing it the opposite way to the crotch seam in the
pants. If the front-center and back-center seams point
opposite ways, decide which end of the seam will be
more conspicuous and de-lump that one. Probably the
back, since you sit on that part of the seam.
Press under the raw edge and appliqu‚ the patch to
the pants, top stitching twice to match the mock-fell
seams in the pants.
Now cut away the worn fabric under the patch. This
is very important -- if you leave the inseams under the
gusset,
they will wear away the new fabric.
You can match felled seams by cutting away after
edge-stitching around the patch, then turning the cut
edge of the pants under and top-stitching again, but
this is rather lumpy, and no-one who doesn't see the
inside of the pants will know that you have two kinds
of seam. On the third hand, you might have had a
reason for flat-felling the seams, and it might still
apply.
If the pants seams are neither flat felled nor
mock-felled, ingenuity is required. You may have to
sew the patch on by hand.
If the rest of the pants are in *perfect* shape, the
fabric may be unusually vulnerable to abrasion, and it won't
wear any better in the form of a patch than it did the first
time.
The patch may last longer if you underline it with a
thin, tough fabric of a compatible fiber. It isn't
necessary to match the color, but a sharp contrast can
annoy you when you are putting on the pants.
Cut away the turn-under allowance of the underlining,
and fold the patch around the edge of the underlining.
Also cut away the seam allowance of the underlining on the
side that will be concealed by the mock-fell seam.
To piece an underlined patch with a pre-graded
flat-fell seam:
(Note: I did this once, but didn't take notes.
These instructions may be revised when I do it again.)
Place an underlining piece on a patch piece with
the turn-under sticking out evenly all around except at
the seam. You may have made a pattern for the
underlining, or you may have trimmed off the turn-under
allowance after cutting it from the patch pattern. If
your hand is unsteady, you may want to mark the
trimming line after placing the underlining on the
patch. Don't sweat minor wobbles, as long as the raw
edge of the underlining will be completely covered by
the turn-under, and the underlining will be firmly
caught in the stitching that attaches the patch.
Another way: Cut the underlining and mark it, then
use it as a pattern to cut the fashion fabric. Cut a
quarter inch outside the lining to make a turn-under
allowance. This will make the patch bigger, but it
probably won't matter. If it does matter, make a
pattern for the underlining
Baste just inside the seam line. (Or exactly on it
if using a pred-graded flat fell.) Baste elsewhere as
required to keep the lining and patch in registration.
A line of basting exactly on the grain line will
transfer it to the fashion-fabric side.
The lining will tend to cling to the patch if you
press after basting -- if you spray a little starch in
between, it may be firmly glued into place.
If using the lining as a pattern, press and baste
it before cutting. Do the seam-line basting after
cutting, so that you can do it by machine.
Repeat for the other side of the patch.
Trim a narrow strip from the seam allowance of one
piece of the patch. Wrap the underlining around the
edge of the patch and press or baste it into place. (I
find basting easier.)
On the other piece, trim off the seam allowance of
the underlining near the basting.
{Deprecated comment which may be needed elsewhere}
On a later patch, I found that one can sew the seam
first, then run a seam ripper between the basting and
the stitching, and peel off the seam allowance. One
may need to tweeze some threads caught in the
stitching. Put the *blunt* tine of the seam ripper
between the fabrics.
Place the two pieces right sides together with the
raw edge of the patch matching the raw edge of the
wrapped-around underlining. Stitch the width of your
original seam allowance from the folded edge -- the
exact width trimmed from the one allowance will be
gained back by making the other allowance narrower, and
the original stitching lines will end up superimposed.
Trim excess fabric from the ends of the seam
allowances to make turning the edges under easier.
With the right side up, stitch close to the seam,
keeping the seam allowances underneath flat as you
stitch them into place. (You can feel them through the
patch as you smooth the work against the bed of the
machine.) For once, pre-pressing is not required.
Turn the work over and begin stitching at the end
where you left off. This means that you don't have to
cut the threads, and, more important, means that the
fabric that was pulled by the feed dogs in one
direction is now being pushed by the presser foot in
the same direction, so that you don't get wrinkles in
the seam.
Turn under the edge and applique as directed for
the mock-fell seam.
----------------------------------------------------
Replacing Fasteners
===================
Missing Buttons
---------------
If you are lucky enough to find the button that has
fallen off, take firm measures to keep it from getting lost:
if you can't sew it back on at once, fasten it to the
garment with a safety pin, tie it to the buttonhole with a
piece of string, tie it into the corner of a handkerchief
and put the handkerchief into a zippered pocket of the
garment to which the button belongs. Nailing a button to
your pincushion with a T-pin will keep it from getting lost,
but it doesn't always get it back together with the garment
it fell from.
If the button is gone for good, you might be able to
find one that's close enough in your button jar. If the
garment is quite new, there's an off chance that you can go
back where you bought the buttons and buy another, but
nothing in fashion hangs around long, even when it's plain
and ordinary and standard. If you use lots of similar
buttons -- if you plan to make several shirts with plain
white shirt buttons, for example -- it's wise to buy buttons
by the gross so that buttons that look the same are
interchangeable.
If you can't match the missing button, you may have no
alternative to replacing all of the buttons on the garment,
but it may be possible to steal one from a spot where it's
logical to have a different button or no button at all.
Expensive garments often have a button sewn to an
inconspicuous spot for just this purpose.
Matching the thread is usually easy, but if the thread
was some unobtainable color that calls attention to itself,
you may be stuck with re-sewing all the buttons even if you
have the original button to replace.
Notice how the buttons are sewn on, and sew the replaced
button to match the others.
Hand-sewn buttons are a bit more secure than machine-
sewn buttons, and it isn't likely to be worth your while to
set up a machine for a single button. It's even less likely
that a button will fall off when you are at home and have a
machine handy.
The technique for attaching a replacement button is
exactly the same as the technique for hand-sewing a button
on a new garment, except that you have to pick out the
broken threads first.
You want to sew the replacement button exactly where the
old button was, so don't pick out the old threads until you
have all the equipment in hand and can get the button sewn
on before the holes close up. Clipping the broken threads
close to the fabric and pulling on them from the back
usually picks them out cleanly. Tweezers may help.
It may be necessary to patch or reinforce the fabric
before replacing the button. If so, put the patch on the
wrong side, and try to keep the stitches in the area that
will be covered when the garment is buttoned. Since buttons
are sewn to multiple layers, it may be possible to keep the
stitches from coming through to the right side.
Overcast or baseball-stitch torn edges together; with
any luck, most of the darn will be hidden under the button.
(A darn must be backed up with a patch.)
If you are afraid the patch will also be torn, sew a
small, flat button to the inside with the same stitches that
hold on the working button; this will spread out the strain
if the button is jerked.
Think ahead when making clothing, and re-inforce
vulnerable buttons with backing buttons or an extra layer of
fabric. Bear in mind that when you pull a button, the
threads attaching it pull on the fabric from the back, so it
is on the back that that the fabric needs protection.
Replacing snaps and hooks
-------------------------
Pretty much the same considerations as replacing
buttons, except that it's easier to find a matching hook or
snap, and mis-matched hooks and snaps don't show as much as
mis-matched buttons. If you have lost only half a snap,
make sure the replacement fits the remaining half, or
replace both halves.
If you find yourself replacing a thread-eye repeatedly,
check the hook for rough spots. If the hook is wearing the
eye because it's been squashed and is too tight, forcing a
thin knife blade into it may repair it.
It is also possible that, in your zeal for durability,
you are putting too many threads into your bar tack, so that
it is so thick that it has to be forced into the hook by
main strength.
Replacing zippers &&
-----------------
General
-------
If you replace a fastener more than once, consider
replacing it with a different kind of fastener.
Bed linen
=========
It is rarely a good idea to mend a worn sheet. Sheets
wear out so uniformly that when a hole appears in one part,
the rest is about to go. Accidental injuries are worth
repairing, however, particularly when they are near the edge
and you won't have to lie on the patch or darn.
If you are short of sheets and must repair one that
has worn thin in the middle, tear it lengthwise, sew
the selvages together, and hem the torn edges. This
puts the strong fabric where the strain is, and leaves
the thin fabric to tuck under the mattress. It also
puts a seam right where you lie -- that's another thing
wrong with mending sheets: they wear through exactly
where a patch or darn is most uncomfortable. Use an
overcast seam or lap seam to minimize the discomfort.
The good parts of worn sheets can be made into
pillowcases, but the pillowcases generally wear out very
soon, so don't invest much labor in them.
Bandages are a traditional use for worn sheets: they
are torn lengthwise to make roller bandages, or they are
torn into forty-inch squares and the squares are cut on the
diagonal to make triangular bandages. Sometimes triangular
bandages are called "cravat" bandages, but strictly
speaking, they are cravats only when folded into a narrow
strip parallel to the long side.
Before making bandages, the old sheet should be
washed with hot water and bleach, and thoroughly
rinsed. (You may wish to soak in bleach or other
disinfectant cold, then use the hottest-available water
for the first rinse.) Baste around any holes first to
keep them from growing. For extra credit, iron the
freshly-made bandages; this comes pretty close to
sterilizing them. Store bandages in new food-grade
plastic bags.
If there is no immediate use for a worn-out sheet, store
it on a top shelf; sooner or later you are going to want a
very large rag. We used to use old sheets to simulate snow
under Christmas trees, for example -- this led to the
"Christmas-tree skirt". Old sheets are also traditional
dust covers for disused furniture. If you make tailored
clothing from dry-clean-only fabric, you'll need an old
all-cotton sheet to "sponge" the fabric.
Worn-out all-cotton sheets and pillowcases make
excellent "blow" handkerchiefs, and a piece of sheet in the
rag drawer is a convenient source of impromptu bandages and
semi-disposable cleaning rags.
A *linen* sheet, of course, is worth more trouble.
Family legend has it that one of my ancestors made a
set of dinner napkins from the good parts of a linen
sheet that her ancestor had brought with her from "the
old country" -- possibly Ireland.
----------------------------------------------------------
Mending Woven Wool
==================
I use DMC's "Medici" embroidery wool to sew patches on my
wool house pants.
Medici is a hard-twisted yarn about the thickness of carpet
thread. When I use black Medici on fuzzy black wool (flannel
washed in hot water), it is hard to see, and it tends to felt
into the fabric, so I needn't be fanatical about securing
the ends.
For my rough-and-ready mending, I cut a patch larger than
the worn area, lay it over the hole, back-stitch it to the
garment, then overcast all raw edges down. Since wool
doesn't ravel much, this would work even if the fabric
hadn't been felted.
An accidental injury can be mended by cutting a patch to the
exact size of the hole. (Make *very* sure that the patch
isn't going to change size when the garment is washed!)
More precisely, cut it ever so slightly bigger than the
hole, so that you have to squish it in, but it still will
lie perfectly flat without coercion.
Set the patch into the hole, raw edges just meeting, and
darn it in by slipping your needle through the fabric, so
that the thread doesn't show on either side, from one side
of the cut to the other. Put the needle down very close to
where it came up and slide through the fabric back to the
other side of the slit. (One name for this is "rantering
stitch". Some think it's short for "re-entering stitch".)
Work from the wrong side so that the little bumps of thread
where you turn will be inside the garment.
For darning-in, buttonhole silk is much stronger than
Medici, which you can easily break with your bare hands.
(And you should, since a fuzzy broken end is easier to hide
than an end cut square.) And silk thread is easier to slide
through the fabric. Don't use nylon or polyester thread.
I read somewhere that a human hair was the best thread for
invisible mending. I had a couple of eighteen-inch white
hairs once, and tried sewing with them in lieu of the size A
white silk that was short supply. I found it almost
impossible to thread a needle with two hairs -- they wanted
to go in different directions -- and yes, the "thread" is
invisible, as in impossible to see what you are doing. I
imagine a single hair would be easier to handle, and worth
the effort if repairing a fine antique. (#100+ silk is
almost as hard to sew with as human hair -- but more
conveniently packaged.)
If rantering won't work, baseball stitch is another way to
darn a slit. The thread will fill a slight gap; a larger
gap can be filled by weaving over and under a vertical
thread. I prefer wool for baseball stitch, since it shows
less than silk, it's easier to secure, and strength isn't as
important as in rantering.
I foolishly wore a white challis headscarf while burning
brush, and a spark burned a small hole in it. I darned the
hole -- parallel rows of running stitch intersecting in a
woven darn such as you would use for linen -- with white
size A sewing silk, and much to my surprise, I have to look
very closely to see that the scarf has been mended.
I don't like sharp angles in my sewing -- I leave holes
rounded, and trim out only what's hopeless or lumpy.
However, all the old books suggest trimming to a rectangle;
could be the authors knew something.
To prevent puckers and tearing-away after washing,
choose a patch that has been washed as many times as the
garment, match the grain, and hope for the best.
> I've tried sewing with a thread pulled from the garment
> itself, but OH is that frustrating. Breaks, a lot...
Wax helps -- slicks down the fuzz, and gluing the fibers
together inhibits fraying. Using short pieces also helps,
as do using double threads and choosing threads that run
parallel to the selvage. I never tried it with wool,
however.
I just dug out a thin wool blanket I bought at a garage
sale. It was probably mended some time in the thirties, but
it might have belonged to a farmer, in which case hard times
went a *lot* farther back. On the other hand, it's
definitely machine stitching.
Whoever mended it cut two corners off the blanket,
overlapped the bias edges half an inch, and sewed close to
each edge -- too close on one side; parts of it have come
unstitched.
Then he or she trimmed the hole to a square, laid the
square made from the corners over it (overlapping by an inch
and a half), and sewed twice around the edges of the patch
and the hole. One row of stitching was a quarter inch from
the edge, and one row was right on the edge.
He finished by single-crocheting -- looks like blanket
stitch at first glance -- completely around the entire edge
of the blanket. Wish I knew how he worked so *evenly*. He
made a chain stitch after each single crochet, which would
have made the work a bit faster, and the edge is nearly half
an inch wide.
It has held up quite well; in fact, I think I'll skip
re-sewing the stitches that have let go, since the wool
isn't going to fray, and the remaining stitches are holding
quite well.
Besides, the blanket is wearing into small holes.
------------------------------------
EOF