Everyday Mending · piece Nº 41 · 42 min

Ready a loose hook and eye for resewing

A hook or eye pulls loose at the spots that take the most strain — plackets, cuff ends, the corners of pockets. This lesson shows you how to catch a failing fastener in your weekly mending review and ready it, and the cloth behind it, so it is set to go back on. The attachment stitch itself is covered in a separate lesson.

beginner · needle & thread onlySign in to keep your stitches

The seam · 7 steps

Step 1

STEP 1/7

Once a week, as the wash comes in, look over each garment before it goes back in the drawer. Catching wear at a set time means a hook or eye turns up loose in your hands, not on the morning you meant to wear the garment.

Photo: Once a week, as the wash comes in, look over each garment before it goes back in the drawer.

Step 2

STEP 2/7

Run a finger along each hook and eye at the plackets, cuff ends, and any point where strain gathers — these fail first. Note every fastener that is loose, bent, or missing.

Photo: Run a finger along each hook and eye at the plackets, cuff ends, and any point where strain gathers — these fail first.

Step 3

STEP 3/7

If a hook or eye is loose, set that garment aside to fix before its next wash. Washing frays raw edges and drives small holes larger, so a fastener caught now is a small repair, not a torn placket later.

Photo: If a hook or eye is loose, set that garment aside to fix before its next wash.

Step 4

STEP 4/7

Handle a loose or missing fastener in the same sitting you find it, rather than setting the garment back on the pile. Keep a card of hooks and eyes in your mending basket so a matching replacement is on hand the moment you need one.

Photo: Handle a loose or missing fastener in the same sitting you find it, rather than setting the garment back on the pile.

Step 5

STEP 5/7

If you have no new fastener, take a sound hook or eye off a garment you are cutting down or discarding — cut the threads that hold it with small scissors or a ripper, and save it for the repair.

Photo: If you have no new fastener, take a sound hook or eye off a garment you are cutting down or discarding — cut the threads that hold it with small scissors or a…

Step 6

STEP 6/7

Check whether the loose fastener has pulled through and torn the cloth of the placket. If it has, that cloth must be mended and stayed with tape on the wrong side before any fastener goes back on. Set the garment aside for that repair first — a hook sewn over a tear has nothing sound to hold to.

Photo: Check whether the loose fastener has pulled through and torn the cloth of the placket.

Step 7

STEP 7/7

Draw a length of your repair thread — cotton No. 40 to No. 70, or silk twist — across a block of beeswax so it holds the strain the fastener will take. With the fastener, the readied cloth, and this waxed thread in hand, it is set for the stitch that puts it back on.

Photo: Draw a length of your repair thread — cotton No.