Scarves Tutorial: Repairing pulls in Cashmere/Silk scarves

[Fabfashion]

I am reviving this thread in the hopes that either the OP or someone who has had success with this can help. I am NOT a seamstress by any means, so I feel a little out of my element. However, I just bought a CSGM on eBay that is sold out in the boutiques, but is the color way I've been searching for. Unfortunately, it has a snag. I don't want to take it to Hermes to see if they can fix it since I am not the original purchaser. So I'd like to take a stab at fixing it myself once it arrives.

I am trying to follow along with the photos from the original post. I am a bit lost, however. Does one have to use the needle to actually sew the "loop" from the pull back into the shawl, or use it just to pull the thread back into place? Any help would be appreciated - sorry I am really out of my element here!

I haven’t tried to fix my 2 CSGMs that have big snags but I have fixed a couple little snags on another CSGMs. I didn’t sew anything just used the needle to pull the thread back in place. A snag is essentially a thread that’s been pulled out (like a drawstring) so you have to slowly wiggle it back to its original place/tension so the fabric doesn’t puckered, if that makes sense.

 

[bunnycat]

I am reviving this thread in the hopes that either the OP or someone who has had success with this can help. I am NOT a seamstress by any means, so I feel a little out of my element. However, I just bought a CSGM on eBay that is sold out in the boutiques, but is the color way I've been searching for. Unfortunately, it has a snag. I don't want to take it to Hermes to see if they can fix it since I am not the original purchaser. So I'd like to take a stab at fixing it myself once it arrives.

I am trying to follow along with the photos from the original post. I am a bit lost, however. Does one have to use the needle to actually sew the "loop" from the pull back into the shawl, or use it just to pull the thread back into place? Any help would be appreciated - sorry I am really out of my element here!

If you go up the page on page 6, you can look at the different pics I did when I fixed a couple of very different kinds of snags. One was a broken thread (and I had to thread the thread end on a needle to fix it) and the other was just using the needle point to move and ease the unbroken loop of "snag" back along the woven line it came from, if that makes sense.

Hello fellow scarfies! I have finally caved in to the cashmeres....and so here is my tale of not woe at the fixes I have done on my "starter" cashmeres. I wanted to share my methods here in case anyone else runs (ha ha) in to serious pull problems and wants an idea.

My first NTM CSGM was Zenobie, and I knew she was coming to me with some pulls, but only one was pictured. However, I knew it was a serious one. And it was. A broken thread. There was 1 more "lesser" pull with non broken threads and those are obviously the easiest to deal with.

(Aside-I have a long background in textiles and have for many years practiced textile weaving and dyeing and have a large floor loom and you can bet dealing with problems that occur while weaving is a skill you have to acquire. It has also helped me with the GM cashmere scarves since they are a fairly loose weave.)

So Zenobie's worst run had a pulled and broken thread. View attachment 4532751

I ended up using a 10x jewelers loupe to get close viewing and thread a thin needle in the general direction of the herringbone weave (which is angled).
View attachment 4532750


The I threaded the loose end on to the eye and pulled it through. Repeated until I couldn't thread the broken thread any further, which was close enough for me! It doesn't really pose a huge problem in this situation with the fabric, but is a potential future weak spot. To truly fix it I would need to take a small piece from the hem, dye it to match the area, then work it in overlapping the broken ends.

View attachment 4532749

After:
View attachment 4532747

This was the other side of the broken thread pull. I basically worked from both sides to bring as much of the broken thread back in to line as possible and make the ends meet as close as I could.

View attachment 4532745

After
View attachment 4532752

And this one was not too hard. I just used the tip of the needle to create micro-pulls with the thread back in the other direction to make the original loop smaller with occasional tension adjustments and wiggling/massaging.

View attachment 4532748

You couldn't even see this one once I was done!
View attachment 4532746

 

[JewelryLover101]

I haven’t tried to fix my 2 CSGMs that have big snags but I have fixed a couple little snags on another CSGMs. I didn’t sew anything just used the needle to pull the thread back in place. A snag is essentially a thread that’s been pulled out (like a drawstring) so you have to slowly wiggle it back to its original place/tension so the fabric doesn’t puckered, if that makes sense.

If you go up the page on page 6, you can look at the different pics I did when I fixed a couple of very different kinds of snags. One was a broken thread (and I had to thread the thread end on a needle to fix it) and the other was just using the needle point to move and ease the unbroken loop of "snag" back along the woven line it came from, if that makes sense.

Thank you both for the help! I was having a lot of trouble just following along based on the photos alone. However somewhere I saw referenced a video tutorial on @Notorious Pink’s IG page. And that was immensely helpful. Thank you all! For someone as unexperienced as myself, I needed a bit more help

 

[JewelryLover101]

Well, as an update to my last post, I wasn't successful in trying to repair the run in my shawl myself. It was a very long run, and as mentioned above, I am not handy (at all) when it comes to sewing. I called my local Hermes boutique, and they said they send all of their repairs to a dry cleaner called Carriage Trade Cleaners located in Bucks County, PA (doesn't sound like anything is handled in-house these days). Carriage Trade has a re-weaver who works for them, and they send all of the shawls to them for repair. They said they work with about 8 or 9 Hermes boutiques - Chicago, Atlanta, KOP, some other east coast boutiques. I will post an update once I receive the shawl back from them. However, I thought it might be helpful to share the name of this place for those looking to get a shawl repaired. I believe you can mail your items directly to them.

 

[de vent]

Very grateful for reviving this chat @JewelryLover101 and your insights @bunnycat. I snagged my Jardins de Soie CSGM on my Velcro knee brace last night and just panicked. Your info gives me some hope.

 

[Nomad]

Very grateful for reviving this chat @JewelryLover101 and your insights @bunnycat. I snagged my Jardins de Soie CSGM on my Velcro knee brace last night and just panicked. Your info gives me some hope.

Agh sorry.
I snagged my Jardins de soie when we were doing a jewelry week on Sotd and my earrings caught it. I gasped like you wouldn’t believe. Needless to say, rhinestone jewelry will never ever be put on w scarves

 

[Nomad]

@de vent haha I just snagged my non-H mousseline on my sons pants w Velcro! I was carrying his pants in my hand to bring to him. A BRUTAL snag

 

[bunnycat]

Very grateful for reviving this chat @JewelryLover101 and your insights @bunnycat. I snagged my Jardins de Soie CSGM on my Velcro knee brace last night and just panicked. Your info gives me some hope.

Oh no! I hope yo are able to fix it!

 

[EtsyBoss]

Last night I felt a snag in one of my cashmere shawls, Cheval de Fete, that is probably my most often worn one, kept draped on the back of a couch to grab when the AC gets a little too fierce, for chilly open air mornings, etc. It was a tiny loop and recalling this thread, I thought ... hey that looks easy enough I bet I could try that technique I saw on tpf.

Grabbed a needle and woah - success - I could coax it into place! Feeling the high of instant success, I thought maybe I could fix the one that goes right across the title, a most annoying place for a snag if I dare say.... a delicate tug here, gentle finding of the right thread, a pull there ... repeat... repeat... and finally nearly good as new now.

 

[EtsyBoss]

Feeling like a prof just gave me an A on my first term paper, and riding high, I thought yes... let's attempt to write a dissertation next, recalling my very first CSGM, L'arbe du Vent, which after years of love and wear has so many snags and pills that it is in absolutely dreadful condition. It has pills, pulls, and matted snags where it pilled and matted over a snagged loop so bad that it essentially matted the pulled thread back onto itself. A very sad pitiful state.

5 hours later after sitting under a very bright light and looking at the fabric from 2 inches away... I tamed the 12 (!) parallel snags running vertically and another 10 or so running horizontally (!), took out some pills and did what I could to restore this precious baby.

Now I am hooked!

 

[EtsyBoss]

The process is pretty doable, I think. You need a needle and the concept is exactly as MSO13 describes. Start by finding the loop but don't put the needle in there, follow along that line / thread until you see a color mismatch, then start there.

Gently insert the needle under that one thread (where I started marked with an S) and pull it out just a tiny amount in the direction of the arrow to re-align the colors.

Advance along further down the line, pulling that same thread back into alignment little by little. It will get tighter as you go, and harder to differentiate which thread is which, but keep at it making tiny moves.

Then when it is pretty much aligned you can gently pull on the fabric in opposite directions of where you were to finesse the tension back.

If you've ever played tennis and recall how the strings of the racket can warp after repeated hard hits and no longer run parallel to each other, the tension of fabric is similar and can also be affected. Just as when you can push and pinch the racket strings back into shape, you can push the strings of fabric back together. It's pretty cool!

I hope those of you coming here find this helpful. I surprised myself by finding this is actually doable!

 

[Lellabelle]

Very nicely done @EtsyBoss ! Thanks for the share

 

[etoile de mer]

So impressed with all the success stories here! Thankfully, I've not yet needed to do this, but grateful this helpful thread is here if I do need to try.

 

[bunnycat]

You did a great job! They look fantastic. Every year, I should go through and touch up the wear and tear on mine. And yes- there is some flexibility in the weave since these CS scarves are herringbone twill (so they have a little give on the diagonal). It would be harder to get the tension sorted out if you were working with a basic over and under "plain" weave of one over and one under type of fabric.

 

[minminlulu]

Hi everyone, I'd like some advice. I've just noticed a snag on one of my cashmere shawls and I'm not sure if it can be fixed or not. As you can see, this has happened right at the edge and the thread has broken. Is there any chance of repair at all? I also bought this in the Hermes sale so I don't think they will even accept a repair for this. I'm based in London (UK) if anyone knows of someone local who might be able to help if Hermes can't.