Repairing a Loop of Loose Stitching in an Insulated Jacket

Written By: Brittany McCrigler

Comments: 9

Repairing a Loop of Loose Stitching in an Insulated Jacket

Difficulty

Very easy

Steps

Time Required

5 minutes

Introduction

Has your jacket turned a little bit loopy? A loop of thread that has come loose on your insulated jacket can lead to runs, snags, and unraveled stitching. Keep your loose threads from getting out of hand with this easy technique.

Tools

Needle Threader

Step 1

Examine the damage, ensuring that the loose stitching is, in fact, a loop.
This procedure will only work for a loop of stitching. If your stitching is torn, resulting in a loose thread, check out our stitching repair guide.

Step 2

Grab a needle threader.
The thin metal ones with a thin diamond-shaped wire work best.
Turn your jacket to the backside, directly below the loose loop of stitching.
Insert the wire on the needle threader through the lining fabric to the front side of the jacket.

I could not get it to go through the jacket at all, actually it just bent my needle threader. I instead was able to put a needle through , and use the threader to thread the loop and pull it through with the needle .

Johnny - 03/01/21

Step 3

Turn the jacket over to the outside.
Check that the wire diamond on the needle threader is poking up through the jacket as close to the loose loop of thread as possible.

Step 4

Carefully pull the loose thread through the diamond of wire on the needle threader.
Slide the thread up to the top bend in the wire.
The thread should get caught in the top bend of the wire. If it is not caught, gently squeeze the top bend in the wire to catch the thread.

Step 5

Pull the needle threader back out of the jacket.
The loose thread should get caught between the lining and the outer layer of the jacket, and should not be visible on either side of the jacket.
If you accidentally pull the thread through to the outside of the lining, simply pull the lining and the outer fabric of the jacket away from each other until the loop is drawn to the interior.

Thread pulls shouldn't be happening on a Patagonia nano puff jacket. My old North Face jacket which is similar never had pulls because the stitches are smaller and tighter

I hope Patagonia will consider looking at stitching because I love my Jacket but I think this stitch size is a defect.

Maryann Cascio -

I cannot get this repair to work. The needle threader bends before I can get it through the inside lining. The needle threader just bends. Also, I agree with the above comment. At the price point of the jacket, this should not be happening.

MontanaSue -

Author

Brittany McCrigler

Member since: 05/03/12

89748 Reputation

6 comments

Thanks! This looks very helpful. Do you literally push the loop of the diamond wire through the jacket material? Do I need to make a hole with a needle?

It must work, but it seems that it would damage the jacket.

Scott -

Works like a charm, would also work on sleeping bags etc. just repaired a down jacket and a nano puff shirt. Awesome

jennyburkinshaw - 28/03/15

Where are you guys getting these wire threaders??? This method has only resulted in breaking two different threaders of mine, the fabric is too thick to get the wire through.

Camden Blizzard - 05/01/21

If your needle threader is too weak, An alternative would be to insert a sewing needle through the fabric from front to back, leaving just the eye of the needle exposed. Thread the needle with the loop, as if you were threading the needle with a regular piece of thread, and pull the it through. This will be difficult to thread, because that loop is very short, but it is the only way I can think of if the “needle threader” is not strong enough to push through.

Linda Lesins -

Addendum to last comment…. In the beginning, Insert the needle PARTIALLY through the fabric front to back before you thread it with the loop. That is the only way you will be able to get that short little loop thru the eye of the needle. It must be very close to the site that the needle it is entering the fabric for it to reach that eye! The smaller your fingers, the easier this will be !

Linda Lesins -

Thank you very much for the instruction, I am just wondering that how often do you see these kind of loosing stitches. I bought a new one last summer from REI and wear it during past few weeks. And I noticed more than 10 of these kind of loosing stitches.

taoranlu - 14/02/23