sunshine’s creations

>Part 4: Repairing crochet how to

27 Jul 2009 9 Comments

by sunshinescreations in crochet, repair work, tutorials

>Decided I needed one more post as I finished the repair job on Saturday. After working with the afghan in repairing it, a decision was made that this afghan will not do well with a washing the swelling and movement of the fibers and the weight even basted to a sheet would be to much for it. So there are some stains it had that I wasn’t going to remove. The owner was going to try and wash them out after a discussion it was decided I would crochet them out. This afghan should live the rest of its life on a quilt rack being pretty but not being used as a blanket.

Someones previous attempt at a repair with needle and thread. Do not repair this way it is more damage to the piece as it splits threads and you have to cut out more of the afghan to do a repair that doesn’t do this type of damage or bulk.

After previous repair was removed but not filled in yet.

What looks like a chocolate stain forgot to take a picture before I started to remove it.

All the stain removed.

Crocheting back in because this stain went all the way to the edge of the block no weave in required but lots of adding of thread. You add thread the way you would change a color in the last yarn over of the previous stitch. Also you do a slip stitch into the next stitch when finishing a thread off. You know basic crochet stuff there but just in case someone has that question.

1 round

3 rounds some how I missed a photo of round 2. Oh well.

4 rounds

5th round and joining to other block.

All back in just need to weave in tails.

2 orange stains have no idea what they are on back side of afghan.

Removed from afghan back side view.

Repaired front side view, this is a dirty part of the afghan so the repair is actually a little whiter than what is around it.

There are lots more previous repairs and holes I am not showing but that would be way to many photos I think you get the idea of it all.

The things one learns when working on repairs. I can tell someone tried to repair this before with a needle and thread and lots of knots not what I would recommend doing to an heirloom. Also this was a very used blanket. The person who had it first used it all the time and they got in and out of their bed on the right side of the afghan (when standing at the foot of the bed looking at it, left side if you are laying in bed looking at the ceiling) they sat on the blanket a lot, lots of wear on the middle and that one edge. They didn’t fold it down at night to save it but pulled it up over them selves as all the damaged is at the head end of the afghan and the right side. Also the person who made it stopped for a long time and went back to working on it and forgot what size hook they had been using because there are two rows that have a bigger stitches and the roses are a different size than all the rest. Found out they ran out of green because there are two different greens in the afghan not nicely spaced all clumped together. Funny the things you learn when actually examining a piece of work this big. Also found out the original crochet was not found of finishing threads in a secure way as most have worked themselves out. I do not recommend just crocheting over thread ends weave some of them backwards it makes them stronger.

All done photos.

15 hours of repairs

Now I have another repair to pick up Tuesday in Provo and drop this one off Tuesday in American Fork)

Intro
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4 this post

>Part 3: Repairing crochet how to

25 Jul 2009 2 Comments

by sunshinescreations in crochet, repair work, tutorials

>We are almost done with the repair of this block. That isn’t to say I don’t have a long way to go to finish the afghan repairs.

Now that the threads has been woven in we have our foundation threads all in place all that is left to do is crochet the missing leaves in this case.

1. Join thread as normal
2. and do all the stitches that have to go through the next round ( the white round in this case)
3. switch to a smaller hook and pass it through the next set of stitches see photo.
4. Grab the loop with the hook and cinch it tight and pull the slack out of the loop and then pull the hook through all the next set of stitches.
5. Switch back to the hook for working the stitches. Once again crochet all stitches that go into the foundation (the pink in this case) and all of those that have to go through the next set of stitches above ( the white area)keep repeating steps 3 through 5 till this row of the hole is gone. The removal and weaving in of threads will have to be done for every round that is damaged this is a very time consuming process but much better than other techniques I have seen. This is not a technique I have seen any where else. I made this up over 13 years ago when I was asked to repair my first project for someone else. I haven’t changed it since. I hope it is helpful to those who want to attempt repairing their own crochet heirlooms.

As you can see in the below photo I have left some safety pins in the afghan block these are where there are entire stitches broken and missing so I have to tear out and do a weave in for these two sets of stitches then crochet in.
This block is now done on to the next with the same techniques.

Intro
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3 this post
Part 4

>Part 2: Repairing crochet how to

24 Jul 2009 Leave a Comment

by sunshinescreations in crochet, repair work, tutorials

>Tear out time

A damaged block

Not the same damaged block as above but that doesn’t matter for this tutorial. Pins in place where thread was already missing.

All pins in place stitches secured.

This always looks worse than it it. You have to take out the damaged stitches and have the pins in place to hold the good stitches. This is the part customers never like to see. The reason for this is the holes actually get bigger for a little bit.

While you are removing the damaged stitches be careful not to break more stitches . Be careful to keep the stitches twists on them and facing the correct direction. Have the pins hold multiple stitches at once this ensures the stitches are not untwisting.

Weave in

Now it is time to weave in the replacement thread. This is accomplished with a crewel needle, you want a blunt tip and a wide eye big enough to hold your thread easily.

Start with what will be the last stitch you crochet and go from the last to the first. Sorry that doesn’t seem more clear every thing is being done in reverse order here. I am right handed so I go around the rose counter clock wise and weave in clockwise. For lefties do the opposite.

Go through every stitch. Making sure not to untwist the threads. This is important or the stitches will look wrong or drop out after the repair. When you get to the first pull the thread all the way through you have to be careful because you can break the previous rounds threads.

Pull out safety pins if you notice in the photos I have left a few safety pins in that is where threads of the next round are already broken and have to be fixed too. Which means I need to take out part of the next row and pin the row above that.

Intro
Part 1
Part 2 this post
Part 3
Part 4

>Part 1: Repairing crochet how to

23 Jul 2009 Leave a Comment

by sunshinescreations in crochet, repair work, tutorials

>So for the next few days you may see a few posts about this afghan as I work my way through the repairs on it.

1. Clean first explained below ( I am skipping this step for this afghan)
2. Match thread colors
3. Then will be the mock blocks. These are the blocks made from start to finish that I make to get hook size right and tension right. Most importantly you figure out the stitch count for the block. This is not usually something that is given to you when you are handed a repair. These, mock blocks, do not have to be in the exact color of thread, just the exact same size of thread. So mine are done and they are in the same pink and green but I used ecru. I do have a mistake in my mock block but I bet I was the only one who saw it. The original blocks have 3 treble crochet per leaf mine has two the reason being the block I picked to copy just happened to have that mistake so a mistake was copied. After I finished my block I looked at more blocks and realized this error so it will not be wrong in the repair just in my sample to keep.These will go into a sampler book later as I like to keep track of things now days. I didn’t when I first started doing repairs now I wish I had. This use to be a common practice to keep track of patterns and things you have done in crochet embroidery tatting and knitting and other things of this sort. Here are my mock blocks fringe and all for this rose afghan repair. One hint on mock blocks they should be a tiny bit smaller than what you think the original is because when the blocks are put in place they get pulled by the blocks next to them. Also your new stitches are not stretched and squished yet it is still containing a little bit of ease. My first time I did a repair (13 years ago) I didn’t do this and when the item was finished my blocks where a little bigger because of the stretch aspect of crochet had to re-due.
4. Then the tear out which looks like I am damaging the afghan more. This is where I remove the damaged areas which makes the holes get bigger so I can fix them. This is the scary part for customers if they stop in while I am doing this they think I have just made it worse.
5. Then the weave in where I place the thread where it needs to be before I repair. A weave in is where you place the crochet thread with a needle where it has to be before you crochet. This is not sewing this is just placement, do not pierce any fibers with needle or thread will not slide right during the replacement of stitches. This technique is for damage on the inside of blocks where there is already existing rounds on both sides of the damage rounds that need repair. This is the part that most crocheters do not get when they look at their own damaged work and are trying to fix it.
6. Then the actual crocheting of the patches.

So this is for all those over the last few years who have emailed me wondering how to do repairs I will show the steps of how to the rest is up to you. Meaning I can tell you in what order things are done. But you have to have the skill to be able to repeat patterns with out a written pattern, judge both hook size and thread size and figure out the tension and where the repairs need to be made. That is something you learn by trial and error in time you just know it but not at first.

But first I usually wash the afghan but this customer wants to do that after the repair themselves. I like to do this first as it shows me how strong the piece is if there are loose threads they get looser during this step and I find all the repairs then. Plus it makes the afghan clean so I can see the true color of the threads when this step is done afterward the patches usually show more. The reason for this is I have matched the thread to a dirty afghan with a clean thread so sometimes the patch is more obvious after the wash because the two colors no longer match and the patch is darker in color.

1. First you bast the afghan to a white sheet ( no colors as the color might transfer to your aghan staining it). This will hold the weight of the wet cloth so as not to tear out more stitches.
2. Then soak in a tub of water ( I use the bathtub). I also use Fels Naphtha soap. I shave the soap into the water and let it soak do this several times letting it soak for hours in between the changes of new clean water baths. (Warning this is a tub full of water that is left standing this is a safety hazard to small children please keep a very watchful eye on this tub and lock the room to keep small children and babies from drowning.) The water in time when drained will run clear of dirt and stuff. Of course I am referring to the water that the old afghan or lace is sitting in. Do not rub the afghan together as this can cause more damage- just a gentle swirling of the hand in the water every now and again. This is a mild type of cleaning that works with patients, not an abrasive get it done now type of thing. I do not recommend this for afghans with strong colors next to pale colors, like white, as the colors may not be color fast and bleed.
3. Then let dry if you have a quilt frame you can tack the sheet to it and let it air dry that way. I do recommend placing fans in the room for circulation of air to speed up the drying you can even set the heater up or on to speed this up too. I do not recommend setting it out under a tree or birds may leave droppings. I also do not recommend a heater dryer that tumbles this can tear an afghan apart in a short time.
4. If you want to place it outside a nice open area where the sun and air can dry it also this will help with the cleaning too as the suns rays can help bleach out some of the stains. That is if you have done one more step in the wash cycle in the last wash place lemon juice ( just juice not pulp) in the water and some salt this helps to bleach out stains when left in the sun to dry. Be careful with this as this is a chemical reaction and can cause damage to the piece. So I do not recommend it for every piece of crochet or lace.

Intro
Part 1 this post
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4