Patches are a good option when you have to mend a hole that's too large or irregular. Though you can make patches in any shape, prefer round ones when the area to cover is subject to stretching.
1. Cut a circle of cardboard (cereal box cardboard works good) and draw a grid on it. The circle here is roughly 9 cm of diameter with a grid of 4 mm. Draw an inner circle 4 mm smaller and cut slits in all vertical lines. Don't go through the inner circle line.
2. Secure the tail of your yarn on the back with masking tape and start running the vertical threads through the slits until you cover the whole circle.
3. Start weaving in the middle using a blunt needle. Go under the first thread, then over the second one, under the following and so on. In the next row invert the sequence: go over the the first one (note you are working now from the opposite side), under the next one and then over the following thread and so on. The third row starts from the same side as the first one following the same sequence.
4. You can change the colours of the yarn or experiment with different sequences, for example, going over two threads and under one for a herringbone effect.
5. When finished remove carefully the cardboard circle or tear it if necessary.
6. Hand wash your patch, weave in all tails and sew it to the material to be mended, tucking in all the border loops.
In my next post I'll show you how the patches look sewn. If you have any questions just write me and I'll be glad to help.