This week lovely Jessica invited me to guest post as part of her Thrifty Fridays posts. I wrote a super simple DIY for mending holes with cute patches and I thought I’d share it here too! (This tutorial is very basic so probably not terribly informative for crafty peeps, but I thought it might be helpful to our less crafty friends.)
To repair a hole you’ll need a piece of cute material to make the patch out of, some fusible interfacing, scissors, a pen, a piece of paper, a needle and thread.
Draw your desired patch shape onto your piece of paper. I chose a simple heart but the possibilities are endless – stars, flowers, clouds – use whatever design your little heart desires!
Cut out your paper patch template.
Iron the fusible interfacing to the back of your patch fabric. This will help prevent the patch from fraying.
Use your pen (or some dressmaking chalk) to trace around your paper template, onto the patch fabric. It’s best to do this on the interfacing side so that once the patch has been sewn on, the markings will not be visible.
Cut the patch out. You might also like to pin it to the item you are repairing, to make the patch more secure while you stitch it on.
Sew the patch on! I did this by hand, using backstitch. If the hole you are repairing is quite large, it is best to darn the hole before you sew the patch on. There are lots of simple darning tutorials on Youtube.
Tie the thread off and you’re done!
Wear your pretty patch with pride! Here’s a sweet cardigan I patched this way:
Thrifty and cute! What could be better than that?
Do you have any other tips or tricks for giving old, tired garments a second life? If so, please do share! It’s so nice when we can mend or recycle things, instead of just throwing them out.
really cute! i still need to do this. i have a cardi with a hole in it… perfect!
Wonderful and simple idea! I have several items of clothing that could benefit from this tip.
Such a cute idea- I always get holes in all my favorite sweaters.
will
try this one!
oh I just got the urge to make heart shaped patches for the elbows of a cardigan. That would be way cute!
oh my! what lovely fabrics you have… i like!
A friend recently ripped her favourite dress. I am SO going to show her your post. It’s funny because she ripped the dress in the …um…arse area. A love heart there? HA.
Haha! Why not?!
Super cute idea!
What a great idea … I’ve got a cardigan (in fact it’s my favourite cardigan), which I should be able to give this treatment to.
i ripped my pants climbing a fence the other day. i think there may be some patching in my future! your back-stitch is impeccable!
Aw, you are very kind! <3
love this idea! new fan!
Oh my goodness, what a cute idea! I’ve got a shirt that this would be perfect for! My kitten had unfortunately ripped a little hole in it.
Oh no! Unfortunately our kitties are quite good at that too….
Aw, that is the cutest idea I’ve seen in a long time. I’ll will try that asap.
Thanks for sharing.
Here’s to a happy week to both of you. XO.
I’ve been meaning to do this for so long with a cardigan that has a shoulder hole and so as to not look too awkward I would put one on each shoulder! Thanks for sharing yours came out so cute!
-Lo
What a great DIY! Thanks for sharing
What a wonderful idea! Now if a come across a perfect sweater for crazy cheap while thrifting I won’t turn it down because of a tiny hole. I may even just cut off the bottom of a skirt I have for the patch. Thanks for your tutorial, it looks so simple I actually will give it a shot!
Nice simple way to fix holes. With two boys this is defitely a nice thing to know.