How to Fix a Torn Dress

Do not throw away your dress when it's torn. Instead, why not repair it yourself? This is far easier than you think. Here we will cover three common repairs: a torn hem, a torn seam and a torn button.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Straight pins
• Needles
• Thread of various colors
• Replacement button (if the one that came off is lost)

Torn Hem

1. Trim or pull out any loose threads. Do this carefully so that you only attend to the area around where the hem has come down, and do not accidentally remove the stitching from the entire of the dress's hem.

2. Pin hem back into position.

3. Thread your needle with as close to the same colored thread as you can manage so that your repair will be unnoticeable.

4. Do slip stitches to repair the hem when you fix a torn dress. To do slip stitches, tie a knot in your thread, and pass your needle through a very small portion of the fabric on the back-side of the dress as possible. Draw the thread through this small portion until you reach the knot. Push the head of the needle through the top of the folded portion of the hem, then push the needle out again. Pass the needle through a portion of fabric above the hem, draw the thread through until you reach the end without pulling so you don't pucker the fabric, pass the needle into the top, folded portion of the hem, and repeat.

Torn Seam

5. Take out or cut any loose threads, being careful to not remove any thread in the portion of the seam that is still OK.

6. Pin the seam back together.

7. Sew the seam back together by hand or with a machine, being careful to overlap the areas on both sides of the ripped seam that are still intact.

Torn Button

8. Replace a torn button by first removing the thread that remains in the dress when you try to repair it.

9. Choose a thread that closely matches the thread that's being used for the buttons on the other dress.

10. Be careful to sew on the button in the same fashion as the other buttons when you fix a torn dress. If the button is attached via a built-in loop or shank on the button's bottom, this isn't as much of a concern. However, if the button has four holes, make sure you sew it on in the same pattern, which will be either diagonally or vertically.

11. Start sewing the button on from the back of the torn dress.

12. Tie a knot in the thread, push the needle through the hole in the button and through the front of the dress, then pass the needle through the button and toward the back of the dress in either the hole above it or the hole diagonally from it.

13. Repeat until you get the amount of thread on the button you wish, then go on to the next group of holes.

14. Finish the button by passing the needle up through and back through the button, but do not pierce the fabric of the torn dress yet. Loop the thread several times around the thread just beneath the button and on the top side of the dress, pass the needle up through one of the holes of the button, then back down the other hole to the back of the dress, and make a knot before cutting the thread.