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It’s easy to fix a snag in clothing and get it looking good again with a special tool that will only cost you a few bucks.
What is a Snag Repair Tool?
The thing you need to fix a snag in clothing quickly is called a snag repair tool.
This one came from JoAnn (RIP), but Clover and other companies make them (I like the Clover option because they have two different sizes for different kinds of fabric, which is nice but not essential).
What you get is this needle that looks like a regular sewing needle on one end, but instead of an eye on the other it has this barbed section that grabs the snag and pulls it to the back of the fabric.
This makes it look like there was never a snag on the front side, which is super cool.
Using a Snag Repair Tool to Fix a Snag in Clothing
I bought this great oversized linen shirt at an estate sale, and I didn’t really notice until I got it home that it had a lot of pulls and snags in the fabric.
But since I have a snag repair tool I knew I could get it looking better fast.
The basic process of using a snag repair tool to fix a snag in clothing is the same regardless of the fabric — you can even use it on knits!
First, take the pointy end of the needle through the fabric from front to back in the center of the snag.
As you pull the needle through, twist it as the barbed part goes through so it can grab the thread that’s sticking out.
Pull all the way through and the thread will come to the back of the fabric.
You may need to stretch or rub the fabric a bit to make it look totally normal.
Sometimes you don’t get the whole strand in one go, or it just doesn’t work the first time, but keep going and you’ll get it.
If you’d rather see this in video form (where it did in fact take a few tries to get the whole snag pulled through), you can see it here:
Using a Snag Tool on a Lighter Fabric
I wanted to show you a before and after on a thinner, silkier fabric just to illustrate that the snag repair tool isn’t damaging the fabric.
This is a 100 percent polyester lightweight top I’ve had for probably more than a decade.
Here is my snag before.
And when I used the tool it did leave a little hole, but it was easy to eliminate just by rubbing the fabric for a few seconds.
Knowing how to fix a snag in fabric is an essential mending skill that doesn’t even require knowing how to sew. A small investment and a little time can keep your clothes looking good for a long time to come.
