Darn it

I wear thick cotton tights about 8 months of the year, every single day.  In the winter, I often layer wool or cashmere thigh high socks over them, but the cotton tights are always my base layer.  (I wear Foot Traffic's Signature Cotton tights, and they have the best waistband and comfort level of any tights I've ever tried.  Plus: fun colors).  They are not cheap, and while they are pretty hard-wearing, I don't want to replace a bunch of pairs every year over a small hole in the heel.  I have terribly dry feet, and my right heel in particular is a scaly awful mess.  (I will spare you the photographic evidence.  Just take my word for it.  Snake skin).  So I'm forever wearing a hole in the right heel of my tights.  (I sometimes get a wear in the toe or on the left heel, but mostly it is just the right).  This year I've started darning these holes to make the tights last longer.*  In previous years, I've used my sewing machine to fix holes (a zig-zag stitch), which works well, but sometimes isn't as durable as a proper darn.  (If you look at the photo below, you'll see some machine darning to the top left).  I thought I'd share my method in case anyone else wanted to try it. 

Step One: a pair of tights with a hole.

Gather your supplies: DMC cotton embroidery floss, a darning egg, needle, scissors.

Step Two: Pick out some embroidery floss, either in a coordinating or contrasting color (I like to use contrast colors, but that's me).  Cut a decent length (maybe two feet?) and separate the strands into sets of two strands.  Thread a needle with two strands, do not double or knot.  Insert your egg into the tights to the place of the hole and pull the fabric taut, centering the egg under the hole.  

Step Three: Set your thread into the fabric of the tights by making two or three small backstitches.  Backstitching is an old (18th century and before) method of setting the end of your thread that doesn't require a knot.  I like it because it reduces the bulk against the foot and is just as secure.  I once made a dress by hand without a single knotted end.  It was completely secure.

Step Four: start making thread loops across the hole.  You are making a kind of loom across the hole to make a new fabric to fill it in.  This allows the tights to stretch across the part of the foot in the way that it would without the hole.  Darning on a machine just brings the fabric together and risks putting another hole alongside the original one.  Darning sometimes does too, but that might be owing to thin fabric around the original hole.

Step Five: Work until you have a line of thread loops going in one direction.  Then start weaving your needle in the opposite way to make a crossed pattern like so:

Weave your thread around the hole if the fabric around it is quite thin.  You'll be making a woven thread fabric over the thin spots as well.

You might have to go quite far away from the original hole to catch all the thin spots around it.  Make sure your thread is going in both directions to cross and thicken the fabric.

Step Six: After you've filled in on the cross-wise, start threading your needle at a diagonal one direction.  Your newly woven thread should start to feel thick and hearty.

Step Seven: When you've gone in one diagonal direction, go back in the opposite diagonal direction, so that your thread is crossed both ways in both directions.  (Clear as mud?)

Step Eight: When you've finished your weaving, backstitch a few times to finish the thread and then clip short.  (If you need to change thread during this process, end the old thread with backstitching and start the new one the same way)

A newly darned hole!

It is sometimes true that you can get holes or runs along-side the darning.  To fix, just add additional darning next to the original.  It is better to catch it before it gets big, so inspect your tights at the end of each day.

This particular darn has held up pretty well.

*At a certain point, the surrounding fabric can't take any more darning and the tights will need to be replaced.  The photo below shows the last set of darning I did on my black tights before I realized they needed to be replaced.  I also don't try to darn thin spots on the thighs (although you could if so inclined).  Usually by the time the thighs are going thin, the tights are heavily pilled and have lots of darning on the feet.

I think this method would also work on regular socks, as my tights are of a similar type material.  I've not tried it, however, as I find that by the time my kids' socks need mending, the holes are so big it almost isn't worth the effort.

I hope this was helpful!