Repairing a Hole in a Jersey

[Alex]

During yesterday's mountain bike ride, I tore a half-dollar size hole in my jersey sleeve. Of course, it was the first time I wore the jersey! Some branches reached out and grabbed me. (And my arm looks like I've been in a fight with a mountain lion. Well, maybe more like a kitten...)

Any ideas on how to fix this? It's on the sleeve (forearm area), and it's loose, so I don't think stitching will rub against my arm. The hole is jagged around the edges. I have a sewing machine, but not a serger. I searched the internet and all I could find was "take it to a tailor," but I would like to do this myself, if possible. Maybe a patch? All I sew are drapes, curtains, dog beds, and dog toys, so I would have to buy some fabric for a patch, unless Terry will send me a piece.

Thanks.

Alex (who now owns one dedicated mountain bike jersey)

[redrhodie]

That sucks!

I'd patch it. If you go to Ebay, and put in "cycling patches" lots of cool vintage patches come up.

Depending on whether the fabric is fraying, it may be easy or not. I'd hand stitch the patch on myself if that's not an issue.

[bmccasland]

Since our jerseys are knits - made with a series of loops instead of woven. The Best thing to do is to take a needle and thread and sew the rough bits together - try to rejoin the loops. It won't look like brand new. Of course you could patch it.

Best and most creative repair I did was on a colleague's shark jersey after he crashed. Some of the jersey was actually missing, so there were no edges to be brought back together. After he washed it, (I don't work on dirty clothes), I used some red jersey fabric for the holes, sewn down with a zigzag stitch on my sewing machine. Then used fabric paint to add some more "blood" to the water and dripping off the shark's teeth. Just so happened that the hole was in the middle of the jersey's circling shark's, so the design wasn't lost too much.

One thought about the patches - the back of the patches can be scratchy, so you don't want that next to your skin. You'll need to pull together as much of the jersey tear and sew that before you add the patch. Also, the patches I'm guessing are woven, which means they won't stretch as if they were jersey, which will alter the fit of your sleeve.

[Alex]

Thanks for the advice and ideas! The hole was an irregular shape, and on the forearm, so I couldn't find a patch at the fabric store that would work. I ended up buying a remnant of a slightly stretchy, jersey-type material that was a great match for the predominant color in the jersey. The jersey has a very busy print. I took Beth's advice and stitched up the bits I could. There was still a big hole, so I sewed a little patch on the inside of the sleeve. It looks quite lovely, if I do say so myself. The materials were $5.13, and I have a bunch of the remnant left, so it was an inexpensive way to fix my $80 jersey.

Because the print is so busy, you can't even notice the blood stains from my altercation with the downed tree limbs.

Alex