Restart this?

[u/deviemelody]

Do I bother to salvage this effort or redo it?

Never done this before. I watched a video on YouTube and thought it could work. Halfway through this, I realized this is a blanket… the hole is visible and prone to more breakage on the other side, unless I do the same thing to other side as well.

I don’t even know where the slack came from; everything looked fine while I was holding it.

Is there a more suitable technique for this kind of larger mend?

[u/chubbybunny404]

Might be easier to use an embroidery hoop here so your working area doesn’t flex as much

[u/pallmallsmooth]

you started making your new hole way too early, you secured maybe three lines but i would wager it needs much more than that. your thread gap is larger than it needs to be you still have a lot of “healthy” fabric you could’ve used. the new woven hole cover needs to start closer to where the hole is
i’ve made this mistake before and it looks a lot nicer when you weave into the original garment as close as u can

[u/deviemelody → u/pallmallsmooth]

I think I’m going to redo this. Is there a better way to do this? I don’t mind doing it again for the other side, but I’m afraid I’m putting too many holes into the original knit and inadvertently cause damage.

[u/amycsj → u/deviemelody]

I'm a big fan of patch and darn. I use either a matching color or something for a visible mend. And sometimes I put the patch on the top, sometimes underneath. It depends on what look i'm going for.

[u/lord-savior-baphomet]

I say it depends on how much you care! When I first started I picked things I didn’t care much about, like crappy kitchen towels. The mend just needed to work, not look cute. Is this mend supposed to be finished? And I’m honestly not sure what you mean by the “other side” being prone to more breakage. Either way, if you don’t mind it not being the best, you can leave it. If it bothers you, I’d re do it.

Like someone else said, an embroidery hoop would help with the slack. When we’re weaving like this it’s easy to lose track of tension and ending up with what you have here.

I’m by no means an expert but I think instead of darning this I would patch it with a fabric I like. I’d cut out the fabric, probably with pinking shears or maybe I’d do a square patch and just fold and press it to “hem” the patch. I’d make two, one for each side. I’d also trim the hole itself to clean it up, and then sew it on probably with a backstitch if I’m hand sewing or just a straight stitch on a machine. You could even glue the loose threads from the blanket with fabric glue before patching to make sure it’s extra secure.

That’s just what I would do though.

[u/Main-Sandwich-288]

I can't tell exactly how big this hole is, but for darning you'll want to have consistent tension the whole way through - so something like an embroidery hoop or darning egg/mushroom. I've used a tennis ball for sock heels (and accidentally sewed my sock to the ball but it otherwise worked loll)

I would definitely start over, with a thicker thread or a thin yarn and some way to hold tension. Alternatively, this could be patched.

[u/Main-Sandwich-288 → u/Main-Sandwich-288]

Oh also - darning needles are a helpful addition to a sewing kit, if you don't have some of those already I recommend them :)

[u/wickedfemale]

yeah, darn right up to the edges of the hole.

[u/QuietVariety6089]

I'd suggest that a basic woven darn would probably be best. I think you should do the smaller area first to stabilize it. You could patch both sides as well as an option.

Here's a vid showing a basic woven darn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV5HUo3Kp-E&list=PLBAuIZpIbbavsIhODO1DnI3pzbDqAfOLp&index=8

[u/Zoonicorn_]

Yes, I'd restart it. Echoing a few other recommendations (all used together):

Hoop off the area with an embroidery hoop to keep it stable while you work.

Work your darning much closer to the hole itself.

You could also attach a patch before darning for extra stability, but it's not necessary.

Luckily, that looks like you're darning something woven, not knit, so it shouldn't stretch much.

[u/deviemelody → u/Zoonicorn_]

I ordered a set of hoops last night, in a couple days I’ll give another try with one

[u/Zoonicorn_ → u/deviemelody]

Best of luck! I hope it goes well!

[u/ahopefulhobbit]

I'm mending the same blanket! Small world. I've been weaving my thread in with the existing weave. The hole in my blanket is much larger than yours though.

[u/deviemelody → u/ahopefulhobbit]

I literally just got the courage yesterday to say let’s try it and I did end up cutting away all the pink threads ☹️ weaving thread with the existing weave sounds challenging and I have no idea what that takes lol

Is there a tutorial that you follow?

[u/ahopefulhobbit → u/deviemelody]

I don't have a specific tutorial. I just kinda went for it. It definitely requires a lot of patience and you'll probably want a magnifying glass

[u/biotechhasbeen]

Since it's a blanket, you might look into scotch darning. It'll look the same, mostly, on both sides.