Save Your Sweaters: Simple Repairs to Fix Holes, Snags, and Wear

Turn the sweater inside out. Use a safety pin or a needle to pull the loose yarn back into the fabric. Pull the excess yarn to the inside so the outside knit looks smooth. Tie a small knot as close to the fabric as possible on the inside and trim any leftover thread. Do this gently so you don't distort surrounding stitches.

• Keep pet nails trimmed and smooth to reduce catches.
• Handle delicate knits with care when dressing and removing outer layers that could catch.

Darning: a step-by-step method for holes

Darning is the practical way to repair larger holes by reweaving new yarn into the damaged area. It recreates the knit's structure rather than just covering the hole.

1. 1Create a vertical base: Use thread or yarn to run vertical stitches across the hole, extending a bit beyond the hole's edges into intact fabric. These vertical lines give you anchor points.
2. 2Weave horizontally: Stitch horizontal threads, weaving over and under the vertical threads. Repeat until the hole is filled and the weave matches the surrounding knit.
3. 3Finish: Push the needle to the garment's interior, tie off the thread securely, and snip the tail. Choose a matching yarn for an invisible repair or a contrasting color if you want the repair to stand out as a design detail.

Common supplies used for darning include a darning mushroom (or rounded support), a darning needle, and yarn suitable to the garment (wool darning yarn is often recommended). Small magnetic darner kits and inexpensive darning yarns are widely available.

If you don't want to learn darning, lack the time, or want a near-invisible, durable mend, professional knitwear reweavers will do the work. Average repair costs run around $30–$50. Pros have extensive yarn libraries to match colors and can produce less visible repairs than a beginner can typically achieve. Examples of shops that do this work include Alterknit and The French American Reweaving Co. in New York, Without a Trace in Chicago, and the Knitwear Doctor in Costa Mesa, California.

Fold sweaters rather than hanging them. Use a folding board if you want consistency and speed. Clean and repair sweaters before storing them away for the off season so small problems don't become larger while garments sit packed in boxes or drawers.

Small repairs are practical and affordable skills that keep sweaters useful and reduce waste. Start with simple snag fixes, learn the basic darning weave for holes, and call in a reweaver when you want a near-invisible fix.