I was annoyed when the mysterious rust stain appeared on my powder blue comfy hoodie, and moreso when I couldn’t get it out despite multiple stain treatments. So I took a bit of a leap of faith with scissors in hand and cut that stain right out of my hoodie!
I’d seen a similar technique on Instagram, that of course I can no longer find, where the creator cuts shapes out of thick fleece sweatshirts and adds colourful fabric in a sort of reverse patch. So I tried it! I figured if I was going to cut a hole, I might as well make it a star-shaped hole. Because stars!
I have never used these cookie cutters to make cookies, but they come in awfully darn handy for crafts. And I used a water soluble quilter’s pen to trace the shape to cut.
The next part was the scariest part – actually taking the scissors to a favourite hoodie. But, I knew I wouldn’t wear it with the stain so it was ruined either way and I had nothing to lose. I used my sharp fabric scissors so I would have nice clean edges and started from the middle.
I had originally thought I might use some fat quarters from my fabric stash for the lining material, but I realized that especially with the star shape I’d need a more durable fabric to work with the thick cotton fleece. I have an old denim floral dress that I once loved but that is now too small for me that I’ve added to my fabric stash and it was perfect for the backing material. I chose embroidery floss from that stash to match the floral design’s colours. I used a rough running stitch to trace the outline of the star in three concentric rounds of yellow, pink and dark blue.
There was also a small stain under the letter P in the Gap logo that was a bit too small and tucked away to comfortably cut into, but I figured I could just distract attention from it by filling the area with something between a running stitch and a seed stitch. I was originally going to weave over it, but my plans for this project were very, erm, fluid.
And then, because I thought it would add balance and the look of an intentional design, I cut into the perfectly good and unstained fabric on the other side of the hoodie zip to make another patch.
I gotta admit, I love how this turned out! It’s definitely unique now. 🙂
Visible mending is such a great way to get creative with your clothes. If something is stained or torn, you really have nothing to lose. I’m sure I’ve extended the life of this hoodie for at least another couple of years, and now it has a unique and personalized design element instead of an ugly rust stain.