Mending a striped sweater by hand

Date:

Pre-2020 through 2021

What I did:

Mend

Before

My husband's sweater had MANY small to medium holes, which would only get bigger over time if they weren't mended.

Scroll through for thumbnail pictures, or click on any image for slideshow view.

front view of bulky striped sweater with olive and black stripes and visible small holes — Before: front

back view of bulky wide striped olive and black sweater with visible holes — Before: back

closeup of holes on sleeve of olive and black sweater — Before: holes on the front side of one of the sleeves

closeup of holes in front top left side of olive and black sweater — Before: closeup of holes at one side of the front chest

closeup of holes on the front chest, right side, of olive and black sweater — Before: closeup of holes at the other side of the front chest

back view of holes on the sleeve of olive and black sweater — Before: closeup of holes on the back of one sleeve

After

I used a sewing needle and thread to mend all of the holes. For the holes in the black part, I used a thick black thread that I had inherited from my grandmother's sewing stash. I didn't have matching olive thread for the olive part of the sweater, so I threaded the needle with one strand of deep green thread and one strand of brown thread, both medium weight, and both also from my grandmother's stash. Combined, and with small stitches, the colors in these two threads blended together, close enough to olive so as to look almost invisible.

front view of a bulky sweater with wide olive and black stripes — After: front

back view of bulky wide striped olive and black sweater with almost invisible mending — After: back

mended sleeve, front view, of olive and black sweater — After: mended sleeve, front

closeup of front of sweater, olive part, showing close to invisible mends — After: closeup of one of the olive stripes on the front, mended

back view of sleeve of olive and black sweater, mended — After: one of the sleeves, mended, back

closeup of mended sleeve, back of olive and black sweater — After: closeup of back of sleeve, mended