Visible mending a hole in a jumper
We are proud to have Nami Levy Wakabayashi on our team.
This lovely Japanese lady living in France is the author of a book that you can find on our website Mending With Kids.
This book is full of simple but smart ideas for mending all sorts of holes and tears on all sorts of clothes – and not only for kids!
This lovely Japanese lady living in France is the author of a book that you can find on our website Mending With Kids.
This book is full of simple but smart ideas for mending all sorts of holes and tears on all sorts of clothes – and not only for kids!
Discover the book by Nami Levy
Nami is full of creative ideas and you will be too after reading this book! Invisible mending is a thing of the past, and it is now the trend to mend in style and give a second life to your clothes. The book shows step by step instructions for the creations by Nami, but no need to strictly follow them.
Use this book as an inspiration for your own creativity!
Use this book as an inspiration for your own creativity!
Nami Levy has a masters in design from Tsukuba University in Japan. She grew up watching her mother mend her clothes.
When she became a mother, she followed the tradition and repaired her own children’s clothes to give them a second life.
She found amusing ways to involve her children in this process, so all the methods are extremely simple.
When she became a mother, she followed the tradition and repaired her own children’s clothes to give them a second life.
She found amusing ways to involve her children in this process, so all the methods are extremely simple.
Nami is now living in France studying book binding and repairs, again showing her passion for mending instead of throwing out. She is also a regular and very appreciated member of the Sajou team. Nami has made a series of videos for us where she illustrates some of the ideas in her book.
Repair a hole in a jumper or t-shirt with visible mending
For a small hole, you can watch our video How to repair a small hole in a jumper. This is an almost invisible method.
But you can also choose to make a statement with something more visible.
But you can also choose to make a statement with something more visible.
You will need:
- A wooden darning egg;
- Fine darning needles, our sewing girl booklet is ideal;
- Laine Saint-Pierre darning wool, either one or a variety of colours;
- A rubber band, to hold the egg in place.
How to visibly mend a hole
We strongly invite you to watch the video which shows all the tips.
- Place the egg under the hole and hold in place with the rubber band.
- Thread a needle with roughly 50cm of two strands of Laine Saint-Pierre. Note that this method has no knots.
- As shown on the video, you will be weaving with one or more colours. Start at a corner, top or bottom, as you prefer, of the hole, bringing the needle down at 2 or 3 centimetres from the hole, leaving about 10cm of thread hanging. Bring up the needle a good centimetre from the hole. Make a vertical straight stitch and bring the needle out just next to the previous one. Do not pull too tightly on the thread. Continue making long vertical stitches until the hole is completely covered. Pass the needle through the fabric and bring it out 3 centimetres from the square and leave a 10cm tail. You have made the base for your weave.
- For the weave, you can use a different colour thread if you wish, still using two strands of Laine Saint-Pierre. As before, you will start a few centimetres from the hole and leave a tail of 10cm of thread. You will weave under and over each base line. This is easier to do with the eye end of the needle.
- At the end of each row, fasten with a small stitch before continuing in the other direction. Do not pull the thread too tight. Push the threads down as you go.
- If you want to experiment, you can add other colours of thread as you go. Leave the tails of threads to hang freely, they will be fixed at the end. Don’t forget to make a small fixing stitch at the end of each row. At the end of the last row, pull the needle out at about 3cm from the square.
- Remove the rubber band and darning egg and turn inside out. Pull the thread tails through to the back and pass through the stitches to secure in place and cut off the excess.
Recommendation from Nami: repair different jumper holes with different colours and don’t hesitate to prevent future holes by reinforcing worn patches.
Visible mending is much more fun if the clothes are repaired in different areas.
Nami’s book will show you other fun methods, including random stitch which is very useful for preventing wear and tear, especially on socks.
Visible mending is much more fun if the clothes are repaired in different areas.
Nami’s book will show you other fun methods, including random stitch which is very useful for preventing wear and tear, especially on socks.
See also our article on patching up clothes with fabric.
