Patching A Hole In Your Lightweight Woven Garment

Patching A Hole In Your Lightweight Woven Garment

A while back I tested Rebecca Page’s Chloe Cami pattern. The first camisole was sewn up using a lightweight purple chiffon fabric, from Fabric.com, and right when I was ironing the finished camisole for a second set of photos I burnt, or melted, a hole in the outer layer. I needed to come up with some way to fix the hole and chose to add a patch from a scrap of leftover chiffon. Here is how I solved this in case something similar happens to you with either chiffon or some other lightweight transparent fabric.

Pinterest image showing the hole in the camisole (top) and the fixed garment (below) along with the blog post title. Both images are also available below.

I was pressing my camisole hoping to get the wrinkles out of the top layer when the hole was created near the top. I’m not sure if my iron was too hot or if it just stayed in one place a bit too long but I was so disappointed.

Hole in the camisole visible. My hand is underneath the top layer so you can see my hand through the transparent fabric making the hole obvious.
I ended up with a couple holes of various sizes.

After debating what to do for a bit I decided to take some of my excess fabric and create a patch for the hole. I knew the patch would be obvious because of the fabric type and location so I decided to embrace it and cut out a heart shaped patch even though a square one would’ve been simpler.

Purple heart cut out from the excess purple chiffon.
Started by grabbing one of my scraps leftover from cutting out the camisole and cut, freehand, a heart large enough to cover the holes.

Since I was working with woven fabric I was worried the edge of the fabric would fray and look bad over time. I wanted to fold the edges over before sewing the patch on but I was worried pressing the fold in place would cause another hole to develop. I needed some way for the fabric to hold the fold while sewing the patch on so I grabbed some double-sided water soluble tape (wash away quilting tape) and used pieces of the tape to hold the edge in place. After folding over the edge I went on to use more on the underside of the heart so I could stick it to the front of the camisole and have it stay long enough for me to permanently attach it with my sewing machine.

Underside view of the heart showing all edges folded in and kept in place with double sided tape. The upper right corner of the heart shows white tape along the edge as the paper on that tape wasn't removed yet.
I used the quilting tape, ripped into small pieces, to fold over the edges of the heart so it wouldn’t fray later on. I then ripped some more pieces of tape to go on the underside of the heart to attach it to the camisole.
Right side of the heart shows a smoothed edge. The fabric isn't opaque so you can easily see the paper covered tape in the upper left corner along with some of the other, more transparent, tape.
Right side of the heart shows it still looks heart shape. Luckily the tape is wash away so it doesn’t matter that it’s visible from the front.
Underside of the heart once I added all the tape and removed the paper backing.
I then added more tape until I knew it would be secure enough to attach to the camisole. At that point I removed the paper backing from the tape before sticking it on.
The right side of the heart shows with the rest of the camisole behind it. You aren't able to see the holes behind the heart but you can see all the tape used through the fabric.
Once I was happy with the tape amount I carefully positioned it on the camisole making sure it covered all of the holes.

Once I was happy with how the heart was secured I carefully sewed along the outside of the heart fixing it in place. Once I was done I was worried it wouldn’t be secure enough especially if the holes in the center unraveled up to the sewn stitches. I decided to sew another heart, within the heart, making it more secure.

Front of the heart on the camisole after it was sewn on. You can see the tape behind the heart.
The tape was easy to sew through while sewing the heart to the camisole.
Back of the layer showing the hole in the shirt with the heart behind it.
When flipping over the top layer you can still see the holes but it’s secured with two layers of stitching surrounding it.

I then washed the camisole which caused all the wash away tape to dissolve. I love how the tape was able to keep it all in place while I sewed and was so simple to wash away.

Closeup of the heart shows the lines going angled across rather than down like the base camisole. No tape is showing through the heart and the stitches are keeping the heart in place.
Closeup of the front of the heart on the camisole once it was sewn on and the tape was washed away.
Backside shows the hole with no tape visible.
Closeup of the camisole while I wear it showing how it looks with the patched heart.
The patched shirt ready for photos.

I hope this quick fix helps you out of a bind. If this has happened to you before I’d love to hear about it and how you fixed it. Feel free to share your story  with me in the comments below, on my Facebook page, or through Instagram. You can also check out my other camisole related posts where I’ve fixed a stretched out neckline and changed how the camisole’s straps crossed in the back. I hope you’re having a better day now.



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