Clothing Repair

The clothing repair kits contain items useful for hand-mending clothes and are available for checkout at the Makerspace.

Kits Include:

A pin cushion
Pins
A sewing needle
A needle threader
Black and white thread
A tape measure
A seam ripper (after removing the cap of the seam ripper, it can be attached to the back end to make the handle longer while using it)

Repair Methodology:

Just clothes may become damaged in a multitude of different ways, there are of course multiple ways to repair clothes as well. This is a brief guide to some of those methods:

Split seams: the easiest way to mend a split seam is to use a slip stitch, and re-bind the loose edges together. This is an easy method, as it doesn't require any patches.
Rips: if a piece of cloth has been torn, but edges are still intact, there are a few methods you may use:
- Iron-on patches: easy, as they require no stitching, and they can be invisible from the outside.
- Sew on patches: these also leave the material flat on the outside, but stitches may still be visible.
- Slip stitching: alternating stitches on either side of the tear to close the hole; this method works in a pinch, but will leave a pinch or pucker in the material.
- Darning: Using a needle and thread to mend over the tear, and weave the hole closed. Time intensive, but efficient.
Hole mending: if an item of clothing (like a pair of jeans) develops a hole where material is missing, you can use the following methods:
- Quick mend: This involves cutting a patch to fit the hole, using a running stitch to secure it in place around the outside edges, trimming loose and frayed edges from around the hole, and whip stitching the edges of the hole to the patch. It will be visible, so it is recommended to use an embroidery thread and use sashiko stitches to emphasize, rather than hide, the patch.
- Darned patch: With this method, one would temporarily affix a patch over the hole with a running stitch or pins and secure the edges of the patch using a blind hem stitch. With the patch secured in place, leave any intact threads of the garment in the hole, and use a matching color thread to first place long stitches over the hole. Then, using the same thread in a perpendicular orientation, weave through the existing garment threads and the long threads that you just placed, as well as through the backing patch.
- Darning: Using any remaining threads in the hole from the garment, stitch over the hole with a multitude of long stitches, and then weave the thread through perpendicularly, alternating over and under the long stitches.
Replacing Buttons:
- Cross stitching: Starting with the needle behind the fabric, sew through diagonal holes of the button to secure it in place.
- Bar stitching: Sew only through adjacent button holes to secure, binding off the thread on the reverse side.