How do I mend a tear in the middle of a garment?

A tear is not a seam. A seam fails at the thread, so restitching restores it. A tear fails at the cloth, and the cloth at the edge of the tear is damaged for a few millimetres either side, so any repair that relies on that edge is relying on the weakest material in the garment. Every durable tear repair works by transferring load onto sound fabric further out.

What you'll need

• Fusible interfacing or a scrap of light fabric
• Thread matching the garment
• A fine needle or a sewing machine
• An iron (optional)

Step by step

1. Look at the shape of the tear.A straight tear along the grain is the easiest. An L-shaped or three-cornered tear, the classic snag on a nail, is harder because the corner concentrates stress and will keep tearing if it is not stabilised.
2. Trim only the loose threads.Snip anything hanging, but do not cut the tear into a neat shape. Every millimetre you cut away is fabric you then have to pull back together.
3. Cut a backing piece 2 to 3cm bigger all round.Lightweight woven fabric of similar weight, or iron-on interfacing. Round the corners of the backing — square corners peel and print through to the right side.
4. Match the grain of the backing to the garment.Lay the backing so its threads run the same way as the garment's. A backing on the cross grain stretches differently and puckers the repair after a wash.
5. Press the torn edges back into position.Work on a flat surface with the garment right side up and ease the edges together until the tear almost closes. Do not stretch it shut — a tear pulled tight distorts and shows.
6. Fuse or tack the backing on.If using interfacing, press with the iron at the temperature the garment can take, from the wrong side, holding rather than sliding. If using fabric, tack it in place with large stitches you will remove later.
7. Stitch across the tear, not along it.On a machine, a narrow zigzag worked back and forth across the line, running well past both ends. By hand, small stitches taken at right angles to the tear, catching sound fabric on both sides.
8. Reinforce the corner of an L-shaped tear first.Work a few stitches into the corner before doing the arms. The corner is where the next tear starts, and it needs the most thread through it.
9. Press and check from the right side.Press from the wrong side over a cloth. Look at the repair in daylight — you are checking for puckering and for the backing showing through.

Tips

• Iron-on repair patches applied without any stitching lift at the edges after a few washes. Fuse and then stitch.
• Thread one shade darker than the fabric disappears better than thread one shade lighter.
• On a tear you cannot make invisible, stop trying — a deliberate visible mend looks intentional and a failed invisible one does not.

Common mistakes

• Stitching the two torn edges directly to each other — The fabric at the edge of a tear is already damaged and has almost no strength. Pulling it together concentrates every bit of load on that weakened line, and it opens again, usually longer than before.
• Cutting the tear square first to tidy it — It removes fabric you need. Neat edges are only useful if you are inserting a patch on purpose, and then the patch goes in from behind anyway.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask