THE SQUARE
Secures the warp and weft threads. Use for cleanly filling wide holes as in moth-eaten sweaters or torn fabrics
1 Set up the darning mushroom. Start the first stitch from 5mm outside the top right of the hole.
2 Decide the top, bottom, left and right. Pick up one or two threads of the material. In order to go all the way through, make sure the needle hits the mushroom. Leave 10cm of thread at the end to tidy up later.
3 As step 2, insert the needle from right to left, 5mm from the lower right of the hole and directly below the first stitch. When you pull the thread, a vertical line will appear. Pull the thread so it is neither too loose nor too tight.
4 Working from right to left, pick up another thread next to the first stitch and one darning thread apart.
5 Pass the thread from the hole to 5mm outside and completely cover the hole. Now the vertical warp is complete.
6 Change the colour of thread to work the weft. First pick up the first thread from right to left at the top corner of the horizontal threads. Pass under the first warp thread but skip the second. Alternate every other thread with the needle. At the end, pick up the left end fabric from right to left.
7 Pull the thread and rotate the darning mushroom 180 degrees. Pick up a thread of the material at the end of the row to secure in place. The second row should be woven the opposite way to the first row: over the first thread and under the second.
8 At the end of each row, pick up the thread from the fabric from left to right. Continue to weave so that gaps aren’t left between the horizontal threads.
9 Rotate again and repeat until your square is filled with horizontal rows. Don’t sew through the threads – if you split them with your needle, the darn won’t fill properly. After sewing, apply gentle steam to set the threads in place.
Note: In woven fabric or sewing, warp threads run vertically, while weft run horizontally (a good way to remember is weft rhymes with left).
“CLEANLY FILL HOLES IN MOTH-EATEN SWEATERS AND TORN FABRICS”