An amazing blanket repair

This time last year a visitor came into the shop to ask if I knew anyone who could repair a crocheted blanket. It belonged to an elderly lady and was of great sentimental value as it had been made by her mother. The blanket had got stuck in a stairlift and was ripped in several places. The local cleaners had managed to remove the oil stains but couldn’t do anything about the fabric. I very quickly realised that it was totally beyond my ability so put a call out on social media. Within a few days, Jo Owen came back to me and said she was willing to give it a go – hurray!

Jo lives in the North East. I didn’t want to trust the blanket to the post so we agreed to hand it over at Spring into Wool at Leeds. The rest of the story is in Jo’s own words:

“A few days later I opened it up to assess the task ahead!!! . I was beginning to think I’d bitten off far more than I could chew , and it wasn’t a feeling I was comfortable with.

Knowing how much this blanket meant to its owner, I pulled my big girl pants right up and began stage one, matching the yarn.

After a few disappointed deliveries- I hit on a Scheepjes yarn that matched it in colour identically, but the ply was a little thinner initially.

I soaked them dried a few lengths, and it then matched the existing yarn perfectly. Once fixed ( hopefully) then washed- I reckoned that the replacement yarn wouldn’t be noticed from the original.

The next task was to write the pattern of the squares so I could replicate it. Taking photos and zooming in and counting- rechecking- and sample making, I was happy.”

“There were two options only – I couldn’t repair the squares in situ, they were way too damaged, I could recreate the squares and sew them on top – or I could remove them completely and sew in the replacements. This was by far the trickiest option, but I felt it would give the better overall result.

I firstly recreated the squares, then delicately removed the damaged ones. There was some minor damage around them, but I was able to repair them with needle and thread crochet stitches ( a technique I developed and successfully used before with repairs ).

Once the borders were sound, I sewed in the new ones in the same way the originals were.

They can’t tell you how happy I was to see this project completed, and with the result. Once washed ( something I’ll let the owner do just incase of allergies). I recon the mends will be almost invisible.

The blanket is due to be collected on Sunday, and returned to its owner. I do hope she’s as happy with it as I am.”

I collected the blanket last Sunday and has now been returned to its owner. I’m looking forward to learning of her response. I am amazed at what Jo has managed to achieve and extremely grateful that she found the time to do this. It’s not as if Jo hasn’t got a lot on her plate: as well as being on the front line with the North East Ambulance Service, Jo is also the founder of the charity, Blue Light Babies.

Blue Light Babies is a charity group that knits, crochets and sews items for worthy causes. Items currently needed include Twiddlemuffs for dementia sufferers and outfits for chemo ducks for children undergoing chemotherapy. Each time the child receives chemotherapy they can choose a new item of clothing for their chemoduck so lots of outfits are necessary. If you’re interested in finding out more, join the Blue Light Babies Facebook Group. Wool Zone is one of many drop-off stations round the country, so you can bring your finished items here and I’ll pass them on for you.