Everyone may know this technique for threading a needle. Beate Schauble’s comment about my moth-eaten blanket sent me to this fascinating YouTube video: “The Magic of Kaketsugi Restoration”. I wanted to make a post about it so that I could have an excuse to try it. I have a lot of patience but I can’t conceive of the idea that I would even do one tiny patch the Kaketsugi way! I’m still thinking about what I’ll do with the blanket and appreciate all the suggestions people have sent.
Kaketsugi is a method of mending that takes a patch from a hidden part of a garment and pulls threads from the patch into the cloth to be mended. You need the patch to be the same fabric so the threads can match thread-for-thread. I found pieces of a cloth that were dyed and undyed to give contrasting colors with the same thread count for my experiment. I was startled to see how big the patch had to be to give enough for the fringes on all 4 sides. I used a rather fine tapestry (blunt) needle.
The first 3 photos show the method of threading a needle using a loop of thread. This technique is used in Kaketsugi mending.
The thread is inserted in the thread loop.
You pull on the loop and that draws the thread right through the eye of the needle!
For Kaketsugi you thread a needle with a loop. Then isolate the thread you will work into the cloth. Hold the other threads back with the thumb so you can see where to insert the needle.
Weave the needle in and out of the cloth in the place where the thread is to go. Only pick up a thread or 2 on the right side of the cloth so it doesn’t show.
Insert the patch-thread into the loop in the needle.
Pull the needle out of the cloth, pulling the loop and patch-thread through the path the needle took and come out to the surface
When you pull the needle with the loop thread out of the cloth it pulls the patch-thread along the path like magic. Note at first I wove the needled in and out too coarsely so it shows too much. As I got better you can barely see the path of the repair thread. In the video you can see that the fringes are brought to the wrong side and a patch is ironed over the threads.
This is fantastic. I have mended old linen this way.
Very interesting, Peggy! I’m not sure I would do this for anything other than VERY special cloth! 🙂
“…takes a patch from a hidden part of a garment…” I have always wondered where exactly that would be. Maybe in a kimono or similar there would be hidden places. I am picturing my hubby’s button down shirts, and how he gets holes in the elbow. Or a little tear in a pair of trousers.
That is quite the technique! What happens to the loose edges of the hole?
“…you can barely see the path of the repair thread. In the video you can see that the fringes are brought to the wrong side and a patch is ironed over the threads. ”
Where is the video? Thanks!
I believe this is it?
The magic of Kaketsugi restoration
Úžasné! Veľmi perfektná, precízna práca. Na to však len trpezlivosť nestačí. Treba mať aj dobrý zrak. Ale vďaka. Keď som bola malá, tak ešte bol u nás podnik, kde robili scelovanie – takúto opravu poškodených látok. Jana