How do I darn a hole in a jumper?

Knitted fabric is one continuous loop of yarn, so a hole is an unravelling rather than a tear. That is why you darn a jumper and patch a shirt — a darn rebuilds the fabric, a patch just covers a hole that keeps growing beneath it.

What you'll need

• Darning yarn or wool close in weight to the garment
• A blunt darning needle
• A darning mushroom, or a smooth ball or jar (optional)

Step by step

1. Stop the hole running first.Work a ring of small running stitches around the hole, a centimetre out into sound knitting, catching every live loop at the edge. This is the step people skip and it is why holes reappear larger.
2. Support the fabric from behind.A darning mushroom, a tennis ball or a smooth jar under the hole. It holds the knitting at its natural tension so the darn does not end up tight and puckered.
3. Match the yarn weight, not necessarily the colour.A thread much finer than the knitting produces a weak, gappy darn; much thicker gives a hard lump. Matching weight matters more than matching shade.
4. Lay the warp threads first.Rows of stitches running across the hole in one direction, starting and ending in sound fabric, spaced about the same as the knitted stitches. Do not pull them tight.
5. Weave the weft through them.Turn ninety degrees and weave over and under the warp threads, alternating each row. This is what makes it a fabric rather than a bundle of threads.
6. Keep the tension even and loose.The darn should sit at the same tension as the knitting around it. A tight darn puckers and pulls, and the strain then falls on the knitting at its edge.
7. Extend into sound knitting all round.Start and finish every row in undamaged fabric so the strain is spread outwards rather than concentrated at the rim of the hole.
8. Finish without a knot.Run the tail through the back of the darn for a couple of centimetres. Knots make a hard lump that rubs and eventually works loose.
9. Consider visible darning.A contrasting yarn in a neat woven square is a deliberate finish rather than a failed disguise, and it is much easier to do well than an invisible darn.
10. Wash gently afterwards.Hand wash or a wool cycle, and dry flat. A darned wool jumper put through a hot wash will felt around the repair.

Tips

• Secure the loops around the hole before anything else, or the hole grows while you work.
• Match yarn weight rather than colour. Weight is what determines whether the darn works.
• A darning mushroom just holds the fabric at natural tension — a jar or a ball does the same job.

Common mistakes

• Pulling the darn tight — Knitting stretches and a tight darn does not, so the repair becomes a hard spot and the knitting tears at its edge the next time the jumper is stretched.
• Patching a knit with woven fabric — The patch has no stretch, so all movement is taken by the knitting at the patch edge, which is exactly where it fails next.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask