Mend and Make Do: Repairing a Cashmere Sweater in Alabama Chanin Style with Reverse Applique

Ah, cooler weather... time to change up the wardrobe. Well, I discovered something when unpacking my sweaters. One of my favorites is a "cheapie" I bought a couple years ago at the Atlantic City NJ Old Navy Outlet. It is 100% cashmere, and I bought it on sale for under $10. 

To my great disappointment, it came out with holes! Arrrgggh! 

What to do???? I set it aside, and found more sweaters that had small holes. So... inspiration time! I went onto my Sweater Surgery board on Pinterest and my Sweet Home Alabama Chanin board on Pinterest. Brain blast!!!!! Reverse applique coming up!!!

I prowled the internet, and found this pattern for a Classic Play Wand by Katie Lewis, of  The Red Kitchen. She made a guest post on U Create With Kids. I thought that star pattern would be a perfect template for my sweater hole problem.

I printed out that pattern and gathered my supplies.

I cut out the star, and traced it with the marking pen. This is what it looked like after I removed the pattern. The star covers the holes.

Here it is, with the star cut out.

I placed that star on top of my "donor" grey cashmere sweater, and cut out a square of it that covered the star space.

Here's the square and the star after being cut out.

I grabbed my roll of fusible web.

I cut the pieces of the fusible web, so that the strips go around the edges of the square.

I got a cool, damp cloth after flipped the patch onto the inside of the sweater, and steamed it on the "wool" setting.

Then, the same process on the outside.

I applied Fray Check to the star.

Then, I used a darning needle with a length of embroidery floss. I did not separate any of the strands, because I needed something durable for my embroidery.

Here's what the repair looks like up close. It took two times handstitching around the border.

This is what it looks like on.

It's cute and comfortable, and took about 2 hours of my time to fix.