Clothing & Repair · Skill 02 of 04
Repair a Small Tear
A seam that has come apart or a short rip in the fabric is a ten-minute fix. The trick is stabilising it before it spreads.
Companion
Catch a tear small and it disappears. Wait and it becomes a hole.
- Needle and thread
- Standard
- Thread matched as closely as you can to the garment colour.
- Low cost
- A discount-store sewing kit.
- Already have
- Thread pulled from an inside hem of the same garment.
- Pins
- Standard
- Straight dressmaker pins.
- Low cost
- The pins in a cheap sewing kit.
- Already have
- Safety pins or a few small paper clips hold fabric well enough.
- Optional backing
- Standard
- Iron-on interfacing for weak or thin fabric.
- Low cost
- Iron-on hemming tape.
- Already have
- A scrap of similar fabric from an old garment, held behind the tear.
- 01Work out which kind of tear it isA split seam means the thread failed and the fabric is fine — the easiest fix. A tear in the middle of the fabric needs support behind it.
- 02Turn it inside out and line it upMatch the two edges exactly as they sat before. Pin along the tear so nothing shifts while you sew — misalignment is what makes repairs look homemade.
- 03Back the fabric if it's torn, not splitSlide a scrap of fabric or a piece of interfacing behind the tear, extending a couple of centimetres past each end so your stitches have something solid to hold.
- 04Sew with small backstitchesTake a stitch forward, then come back half its length and forward again. Small stitches, roughly 3 mm, and start about a centimetre before the tear begins.
- 05Go past the endContinue a centimetre beyond where the tear stops, at both ends. Tears grow from their ends, and this is what stops it happening again.
- 06Knot, trim and pressKnot on the inside, trim the thread, and press the repair flat with an iron on a suitable setting. Pressing is what makes it look intentional.