Tips for repairing a hole in a merino shirt by darning?

[keithy]

One of my favourite thin 150 Icebreaker T-shirts has developed a small hole. It is one of those close fitting tops that has some stretch to it.

I am looking for thin thread of a matching colour to try and darn it. Any tips for someone with average sewing skills? or can I try a temporary iron on patch on the underside?

I have tried darning some wool socks with thicker wool threads in the past, but that was a fairly poor effort.

[andrewa]

I'd get some thin grey thread, Google "darning" and go for it. I've darned a few holes in jumpers, and they've come up pretty well. It wasn't that hard

[RonK]

Unfortunately the lightweight merino is not very durable.

But here is how you darn it.

[keithy]

Thanks guys, I'll find some thin thread and give it a go. I don't have a sewing machine though RonK, but that does look easier, so I'll be hand stitching.

I have found my thin Icebreakers to be reasonably hardy. I take them travelling with me and pretty much wear them for weeks on end usually hand washing them when I get a chance. The one that sported the hole might have caught on my hip belt buckle or on my pants belt as it is at the front on the waist, but the shirt itself was bought in 2012, so I'm not doing too bad out of it. They just don't make that style anymore and I want to stop the hole getting bigger.

[GPSGuided]

You should also find a fine embroidery needle for the task. It's an embroidery skill if you are hand sewing. When I was in Beijing and my son's lightweight down jacket got ripped. The skilled local seamstress advised a patch would be RMB20, embroidered repair would be RMB80 per cm. I picked the former for the 6cm tear.

[keithy]

An update to my holey merino shirts.

Another of my Icebreakers (another 150gsm) got a tear of about 2cm on the left chest during week on the Great Ocean Walk in November. I thought it might have caught on my pack shoulder strap.

I previously tried darning, but my attempts were pretty poor for small holes. So I resorted to trying out the iron on patches for these small holes, ironing them on the inside of the shirt. Turns out they work pretty good.

I've now done the same for my grey merino tops from last year that had the little holes on them. The patches have been through a number of washes and are still good. So far better than my poor darning attempts.

Repaired tear from the outside. Without close inspection I can't see the tear.

The patch from the inside