Repairing Coat Sleeves… But Make It Fun!
I’ve had my favourite coat for over a decade now – one with a fleecy interior and fluffy hood trim in a lovely teddy bear brown – and it was starting to show wear on the sleeves. Tatty and threadbare in patches, the sleeve ends were a sad sight and I couldn’t leave them like it:
Oh dear!
After looking through my various sewing books for ideas, I settled on something from The Hand Embroidered Haven by Megan Frock. The first project in this book, which Megan calls “Static dish towel”, involves creating a zig-zag pattern using twilling (a stitch made up of consecutive knots) layered in four different shades of pink. I thought the zig-zags would make a fun border to the sleeves while lending themselves to covering these particular threadbare patches (using the peaks to cover the “runs” that were perpendicular to the edge).
For colours, I decided to go with three shades of green and one brown, as I thought the greens would make the pattern reminiscent of leaves on a tree, adding the brown to keep it grounded to the base colour of the coat.
To finish the very edge of the sleeve, I used blanket stitch, but placed the stitches close together to hide the tattered fabric underneath while giving it a neat edge.
On each sleeve there is a small chunk of blanket stitch in the dark green because I ran out of that shade of brown!
Now my coat looks snazzier, and will last a little longer too!
Do you have a favourite item that’s getting a little too well-loved? This is your sign to get creative, add your own personal touch to your things and give them a new lease of life!
Happy Crafting!
~KC🐨🧶
