moth hole advice?

retro ruth

retro ruth

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Staff member
I've just got hold of a 60s suit, in what I think is called boucle wool. It has two or three moth holes in the skirt, they are about quarter of in inch across.

Can anything clever be done about them? I'm vaguely familiar with the principles of darning, it's not something I've done much, but am willing to have a go. Or can I do a tiny patch from the back? There's plenty of fabric in the seams to take a piece from. I thought the texture of the fabric might hide a repair better than some fabrics.

Apart from that it's a lovely suit and I'm rather thrilled with it! But these holes do show.

Any tips or advice?

Many thanks in advance

first pic shows front, second back of fabric

DSCF2324.jpg

DSCF2323.jpg
 
Boucle is great for hiding holes - all that texture :)

The easy way would be to patch it from behind, and stitch to secure. The harder way (not so much hard as time consuming) is to pull some threads of wool and reweave them. All you need is a bit of time, a needle with an eye big enough for the wool thread and very good light. Stitch from the underside and then neaten from the top, if any stitches need filling in.

Once it's done you won't believe there was ever a hole there.

Nicole
 
My first bit of advise would be to not bring the suit into your home as there still may be bugs hiding in it that could infest your other clothes. I would put the suit into a plastic bag and seal it - then I would put it into the deep freezer for about 3 days, take it out, shake it outside, and then put it in the freezer once more for another day or two. I'd then dry clean it to see if there are more holes than just the ones you can see. If you don't want to dry clean then steam it really good to see if more holes come out of hiding.
 
And of course, if you plan to sell, disclose the issues and your repair.
 
Of course. I haven't decided yet if I'm selling or keeping. It does fit me, well just, on a thin day, so I'll probably hang on to it for awhile. I happen to have a pair of shoes that match the green exactly, and you just never know when you might need to wear a 60s bottle-green woolen fur-collar suit.
 
Ruth, if you've never tried reweaving, this is a perfect piece to do it on because, as Nicole points out, of the texture. Even if you make a goof here or there on it, should look fine when you're done. The boucle will "hide" small imperfections in your weaving. Pretty color; good luck with it!
 
Thanks, and that's what I thought too, have a go on something where my ineptness won't show too much. You probably can't see the true colour, the pics came out very blue for some reason - it looks almost turquoise on my monitor, whereas it's really more bottle or jade green, with a brown real fur collar. When I'm done I'll post a pic!
 
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