Most clothes are thrown away for reasons that would take twenty minutes to fix.
A seam opens at the side. A thread catches on a bag zip and pulls a loop across the front. A mirror comes loose. A button goes. None of these is the end of a garment, but a piece with a small unfixed fault gets worn less, then worn not at all, then quietly moved to the bottom of the pile. The garment does not die of the fault. It dies of being avoided.
This matters more with handcrafted clothing, because the fabric and the work in it are usually good enough to outlast several such faults. A hand-block-printed cotton kurta has decades in it if someone is willing to pick up a needle occasionally.
The four things worth owning
You do not need a sewing kit. You need these.
- A packet of sharp needles in mixed sizes. Blunt needles are why hand sewing feels difficult.
- Polyester thread in white, black, cream and one mid-grey. Grey disappears against more colours than any other shade, which is a genuinely useful thing to know.
- Small sharp scissors. Nail scissors work.
- A few safety pins for holding a repair in position while you work.
Add a crochet hook or a blunt tapestry needle if you own knits or anything prone to snagging. It is the correct tool for pulling a snag through to the back and there is no good substitute.
Repairs you can do at home
A split side seam
The most common failure and the easiest fix. Turn the garment inside out. Thread a needle, knot the end, and start about a centimetre before the opening, into the intact stitching. Work a backstitch along the original seam line, matching the old stitch length, and finish a centimetre past the other end. Backstitch, not running stitch, because a running stitch will open again the first time you stretch it.
If the fabric itself has torn rather than the thread giving way, stop. That needs a patch behind it, which is a tailor job.
A snag or pulled thread
Never cut it. Cutting a pulled loop creates a hole where there was only a distortion.
Push a crochet hook or blunt needle through the fabric from the back at the base of the loop, catch the loop, and pull it through to the reverse. Then gently stretch the fabric around the area in both directions to redistribute the tension. On a woven cotton the mark usually disappears entirely.
A loose mirror or a lifted embroidery stitch
Mirror work is held by a ring of stitches around the edge of the glass rather than by glue, which is exactly why it can be repaired. Our guide to Kutch abhla bharat explains the structure.
If the retaining stitches have loosened but the mirror is still in place, work fresh small stitches over the original ones around the rim, following the same path. If the mirror has come out entirely, hold it in position with a spot of removable fabric glue while you stitch, then remove the glue residue.
For a lifted embroidery stitch, secure the loose end on the reverse with two tiny stitches in matching thread rather than trying to recreate the original stitch. The goal is to stop it unravelling further, not to make it invisible.
A hole at the underarm
The most common structural failure in a well-worn kurta, and it happens because that seam takes the most movement and the most sweat. Small holes can be darned. Anything larger than a fingernail needs a patch set behind the hole, which is worth doing on a good piece and not worth doing on a thin one.
Buttons, hooks and press studs
Sew buttons with a shank: place a pin across the top of the button, sew over it, remove the pin and wind the thread around the threads underneath before fastening off. This leaves room for the fabric layer and stops the button pulling.
A fallen hem
Slip stitch, worked from the inside, catching one or two threads of the outer fabric each time so nothing shows on the right side. Slow, easy, and the most satisfying repair on this list.
Repairs to take to a tailor
- Any tear in the body of the fabric rather than along a seam. It needs a patch behind and either machine darning or a careful hand darn.
- Torn armholes and shoulder seams. These carry structural load and a weak repair will fail again within weeks.
- A broken zip. Almost always needs replacing rather than fixing.
- Zari and zardozi damage. Metal-thread work is couched to the surface and repairing it needs someone who knows how. A general tailor will make it worse, for reasons our guide to wedding clothes sets out.
- Anything requiring the lining to be opened. Not difficult, just tedious and easy to reassemble badly.
When you take a piece in, tell the tailor what the garment is worth to you. Repairs are priced and executed very differently depending on whether they think it is a throwaway.
Visible mending, done properly
The alternative to hiding a repair is drawing attention to it. This is an old idea with a long history in Indian textiles, where kantha quilting turned worn cloth into a visibly repaired object that was valued more, not less.
Two approaches that work on ethnic wear:
Sashiko-style running stitch. Rows of small even running stitches in a contrasting thread across and beyond the damaged area, with a patch behind. Structurally strong and it reads as deliberate.
Appliqued motif. Cut a small shape from a scrap of matching or contrasting fabric and stitch it over the hole. This is the single best fix for silverfish damage or a burn mark in a visible place, and it works particularly well if you have saved offcuts from previous alterations. Our guide to old kurtis covers why keeping those scraps is worth the drawer space.
Visible mending works best when it looks confident. A hesitant repair in nearly-matching thread looks like a mistake. The same repair in a clearly contrasting colour, worked evenly, looks like a decision.
Preventing the repairs in the first place
Most damage is caused between wearings rather than during them.
- Wash less and more gently. Agitation in a machine does more structural damage than a day of wearing. Cold water, gentle cycle, garment turned inside out.
- Use a mesh bag for anything with mirror work, sequins or loose threads. It stops the piece catching on everything else in the drum.
- Never wring. Wringing breaks fibres along the twist line, and it is the reason shoulders and side seams weaken.
- Rotate what you wear. A garment worn twice a week and rested between wearings lasts far longer than one worn on consecutive days, because fibres recover.
- Fix the small thing immediately. A three-centimetre open seam takes five minutes. The same seam after another four wearings is a twenty-centimetre repair with distorted fabric either side.
- Store it properly. Most holes in stored clothing are insect damage, not wear. Our monsoon storage guide deals with that.
Our general care guide and stain guide cover washing and stains in more depth.
When a piece is genuinely finished
Repair is not always the right answer, and pretending otherwise wastes time on garments that will fail again immediately.
Hold the fabric up to a window. If light comes through areas that should be solid, particularly at the shoulders, seat and underarm, the fibre has thinned to the point where any repair simply moves the stress to the next weak spot.
Other signs: heavy pilling across a whole panel, colour worn away in patches rather than evenly faded, elastic perished throughout, or a seam that has already been repaired twice and opened again.
A finished garment still has a use. The good sections become patches for the next repair, or cushion covers, or cleaning cloths. Our old kurtis guide covers the remake options, and if the piece is still wearable but not by you, our guide to donating and reselling is the better route.
Why this is the part that matters
Extending a garment's active life by nine months reduces its carbon, water and waste footprint by roughly twenty to thirty percent. No fabric choice, certification or sustainable collection comes close to that, and it costs nothing but a needle and some attention.
It is also the truest test of whether a piece was well made. Cheap clothing cannot be meaningfully repaired, because the fabric fails before the seams do. Something made from good cloth with real construction can be mended for years, which is the practical argument underneath everything in Made Slowly, Made to Last, our guide to slow fashion and why handcrafted clothing costs more.
If something you bought from us needs repair and you are not sure how to approach it, write to us and describe the fault. We would rather help you fix a piece than sell you another one.
Every piece we make is built from good cloth precisely so it can be mended for years rather than replaced.
Shop The WardrobeFrequently asked questions
How do you fix a pulled thread on a kurti?
Do not cut it. Push a crochet hook or blunt needle through from the back at the base of the loop, pull the loop through to the reverse, then gently stretch the fabric in both directions to redistribute the tension.
Can mirror work be repaired?
Yes. Mirrors in abhla bharat are held by a ring of stitches rather than glue, so you can work fresh stitches over the original path around the rim. If the mirror has fallen out, hold it with removable fabric glue while you stitch.
What stitch should I use to fix a split seam?
Backstitch, worked from the inside, starting and finishing about a centimetre into the intact stitching either side. A running stitch will open again the first time the seam is stretched.
Is it worth repairing an old kurta?
If the fabric is still sound, yes. Hold it to the light: if light shows through the shoulders, seat or underarm, the fibre has thinned and any repair will simply shift the stress to the next weak point.
How do I fix a hole made by silverfish?
Small holes can be darned. For anything visible, an appliqued motif cut from a matching scrap is the most reliable fix, and it looks deliberate rather than apologetic. Deal with the storage conditions too, or it will happen again.
