Patch a Hole With Needle Felting

Moths, bleach, or old age got to your knits? Patch it with felt!

I apparently got some bleach on my sweater where it destroyed the threads and unravelled into a pretty large hole. The sweater is one of my favorites, so I decided it had to be patched. Needle felting worked great and you can use any number of colors or patterns. I opted for a contrasting color to make a statement, but you can choose colors that match your garment.

Wool roving

Felting needles

Felting pad

Dish soap

As you can see, the hole I patched was pretty large and needle felting could actually patch something even larger.

Place your hole over the felting pad.

Pull out a thin section of roving large enough to cover the hole and place it underneath.

Use a felting needle to stab/felt the sweater into the felting pad around the edges of the hole. Repeatedly stab the felt into the pad. Felt the center of the hole as well. You'll start to see the roving get matted together and get stuck in the mat.

Peel the sweater from the felting pad and flip it over.

Add another thin layer of roving. Begin felting the new layer from the center out. When you get to the edges of where you felted the first layer, you can fold the wispy bits toward the center and felt them down.

Flip it back over and add another layer. Repeat the process until it feels secure.

I opted to add a few stripes to the patch to give it a bit more interest.

To add contrasting colors, simply pull out an appropriate amount of roving and felt it where you want it.

Wash the patch with hot water and dish soap. The more you scrub, the more the felt will tighten, to a point of course. When it seems to be as smooth as it's going to get, wash it like normal in a washing machine. Wash using the hottest water the garment will allow.

Enjoy your newly repaired garment.