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Mend a small hole in clothing the easy way without any sewing! This is a great method to use when the hole is still small and can be covered easily, but you could use it on bigger holes, too (see below for the strategy).
I have written before about mending holes in jeans when the hole is still so small that all the threads from the original fabric are still intact. It’s basically weaving with a needle and thread, and it helped keep those jeans (which are now in tatters I’m sad to say) looking good for another season.
Another pair of jeans somehow developed a warn spot on the bottom of the, well, bottom, and I tried to use a similar technique to keep the spot from spreading but I just didn’t like the look of it.
This is another pair I had hemmed because they were too long, so I wanted to keep them going a bit longer.
Mend a Small Hole with Stitch Witchery
If you’re not a sewer you might not know about Stitch Witchery. It’s a fusible bonding material that’s sold in a narrow roll, like tape.
It basically is tape that you activate with an iron. It’s kind of magical. It’s supposed to be used to hold a hemline in place without sewing but has a lot of other potential uses.
I had this idea to use it as glue that would theoretically hold those threads in place and keep them from unraveling further.
I think it worked but we’ll have to see how it does long term.
How to Mend Clothing with Fusible Tape
Using fusible tape like Stitch Witchery is actually really easy. The main thing to remember is that it gets sticky on both sides so you have to sandwich it between two layers of fabric. Think fusing, not covering.
The jeans were my bottom layer and on top — on the inside of the pants — I used a piece of an old T-shirt to make a patch.
There’s nothing magical about using a T-shirt, it was just handy. But it might stretch with the fabric of the pants better than other fabric.
Cut a piece of fusible tape a little longer than the tear or hole, and a piece of fabric big enough to cover it. Mine’s a little bigger than it needed to be, but no one will see it.
To fuse your patch, start from the inside of the garment. Make sure the threads are as orderly as you can get them. Place the fusible on top, and the patch on top of that.
Heat your iron to a wool/high setting. Grab a lightweight towel or another piece of fabric (I used a cloth napkin) and wet it slightly. (Also, I just got this new iron, which I love, because it’s cordless!)
Put the pressing cloth over the patch, then put the iron down and hold for 10 seconds. Do not move the iron around.
Switch to the outside of the garment and repeat.
Let cool. If patch isn’t totally fused, do the ironing process again.
What if You Need a Bigger Patch?
This initial idea was as a way to mend a small hole or a rip that hasn’t really become a hole yet. But you could use the same tools to patch a larger hole without sewing.
Just make the patch as big as it needs to be to at least cover the hole, with extra width all around for the fusible tape. You can patch from the front to totally cover the hole, or from the back to have the patch show through the hole.
Either way this is a quick and easy way to mend holes in clothing with no sewing skills and very little time required.
Do you mend clothing or do you get rid of things with holes? I’d love to hear about it!
