I have a cashmere cardigan which is a real favourite. It is soft, cosy and comfortable and I have owned it for a very long time. Needless to say, the moment has arrived when it has developed holes at the elbow, as seen below.
This is how I dealt with the problem:
1. I found a small dish in the cupboard that offered me a suitable shape for a patch.
2. I drew round the outline to make a paper template and then used that as a pattern to cut out the shape from a piece of cotton fabric which toned with the cardigan. My cardigan was worn on both sleeves so I cut two shapes.
3. I folded over the edge of the shape from the printed side to the wrong side of the fabric and used small appliqué pins to hold the fold in place.
4. I continued all round the shape, pressing the fabric flat with my fingers as I pinned.
5. Next, I hand-stitched around the outside of the patch with small stitches, taking the pins out as I went. I fiinished off the thread and then pinned the patch into position on the cardigan.
6 Then I re-threaded my needle with cotton thread and stitched round the outside of the patch, taking the needle up through the fold and then down through the knitted surface. I took care to only stitch through one layer of knitted fabric! At the end, I finished off the thread neatly.
7 Here’s the cardigan with both sleeves mended:
My cardigan lives to fight another day!
Just a quick reminder that my ‘Stripey Sky’ quilt, pictured below, appears in the current issue (71) of Make Modern magazine. To order a copy of Issue 71, click here At the end of 2026, Make Modern will cease to publish. They are currently offering an All-Access Pass for every single copy of the magazine from issue 1 to the final issue of this year. To find out more about this, click here (These are affiliate links which help me meet my costs, thank you.)
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