How can we mend holes in knitwear? 9 top techniques to try!

If we have found a part of a knitted garment is wearing thin or has developed a hole, we can repair by darning, embroidery or various other techniques for mending. There are several ways we can make a repair. Click on the link to go straight to any particular section, or read through each technique in turn!

• Woven Darning
• Swiss Darning
• Knitted Darning
• Knitting
• Embroidery
• Patching
• Crochet
• Reinforcement
• Embellishments

We can choose whether we want to mend the hole almost invisibly, or turn it into a feature where no-one knows it’s actually a repair!

When I’m going to repair a hole, particularly if it’s a bit of a ragged hole, I will often start by running a thread through the remaining stitches to prevent the hole from growing larger. This thread can be removed once the hole has been repaired.

1. Woven Darning

With woven darning, we can create a repair by laying some threads vertically across the area needing repair, then weaving horizontally alternately above and below each of these threads basketweave-style until the hole is covered. We could choose to match the colour or make a feature using one or more contrasting colours. This will create a firm fabric, but it will not have the “give” of the original knitting.

Contrasting colours are used here for clarity, but you could use yarn matching the original garment.

Sometimes it’s possible to take some yarn that has been used for the seams so that it’s an exact match.

2. Swiss Darning

If an area has worn thin, but there is no hole, we can work over the stitches that remain with Swiss darning — following the pattern of the stitches so that it looks like the original knitting. This technique involves working the “replacement” stitches in the rows above and below the stitch that is being covered (replaced).

The Swiss darning here has been worked over a stripe in a contrasting colour to make it clearer.

If an area has worn thin, but there is no hole, we can work over the stitches that remain with Swiss darning — following the pattern of the stitches so that it looks like the original knitting. This technique involves working the “replacement” stitches in the rows above and below the stitch that is being covered (replaced).

Swiss darning is also known as duplicate stitch. We can also use this technique for decoration, adding motifs, initials or other designs.

If you pull Swiss darning too tight, the stitches you have made will disappear as the rows above and below come together (this will create a ridge on the wrong side). It’s important to remember that a row of knitting stitches undulates between the row above and the row below!

We can use Swiss darning to add a motif to a garment, there doesn’t have to be a hole! Sometimes it’s quicker and easier to Swiss darn than to work small areas in intarsia, holding contrast yarn on a bobbin, and remembering to twist each time you change colour…

If an area has worn thin, but there is no hole, we can work over the stitches that remain with Swiss darning — following the pattern of the stitches so that it looks like the original knitting. This technique involves working the “replacement” stitches in the rows above and below the stitch that is being covered (replaced).

Swiss darning is also known as duplicate stitch. We can also use this technique for decoration, adding motifs, initials or other designs.

If you pull Swiss darning too tight, the stitches you have made will disappear as the rows above and below come together (this will create a ridge on the wrong side). It’s important to remember that a row of knitting stitches undulates between the row above and the row below!

The Swiss darning here has been worked over a stripe to make it clearer.

You can use Swiss darning to add a motif to a garment, there doesn’t have to be a hole! Sometimes it’s quicker and easier to Swiss darn than to work small areas in intarsia, holding contrast yarn on a bobbin, and remembering to twist each time you change colour…

8. Reinforcement 

Elbows of jumpers and heels of socks can be particularly vulnerable from daily “wear and tear”.

If you like to wear bed socks during a cold winter night, rather than make a pair of traditional socks with a heel, a top tip is to make bed socks as a tube that you can move around so that all the wear isn’t concentrated in one place.