Sewing | Mending A Hole with Reverse Applique

I ordered some clothes from a well-known online shop last year.  One of the pieces I ordered was a cardigan shirt.  When I received my cardigan shirt, there was a hole that was cut all the way through both the front and the back of the shirt. 

A closer look at the hole.

I was going to return it, but then I thought… this was an opportunity to get creative with mending this hole.  What if I sewed a reverse applique heart?  This idea was great, but I didn’t do anything about it until almost a year later, ha ha.  Last weekend I finally sat down with my sewing machine while watching the movie “Rock of Ages”.  (Yes, I find it amusing and funny.)

I had a book of fabric swatches that I bought a couple of years ago.  I didn’t need a lot of fabric, so this was perfect.  I picked this turquoise leaf and flower print, and by chance I had some matching thread.

I’ve also had this vanishing fabric marker that I bought a while ago.  I put it to good use.

I drew a heart around the holes in the front and back of the shirt.

I worked on the back of the shirt first, in case I messed up it’s not as critical, since it was the back of the shirt.  I pinned the flower fabric behind the shirt.

Then I started slowly sewing the heart.  I took it really slow and occasionally lifted the presser foot so I can adjust the direction of the fabric while I sewed the heart.

When I was done sewing all the way around the heart, this was what it looked like.

Then, I took a pair of sharp scissors that I use for cutting thread and fabric, and cut the inside of the hole out.  I started with the hole that was on the shirt and worked around the heart, leaving a 1/4 inch margin on the inside.

After I cut the heart out, you can see the turquoise flower fabric underneath!

I repeated the same process with the front of the shirt.  Now I had confidence that this will turn out okay!

After I was done sewing the heart, I cut out the heart , just like I did before on the back of the shirt.

The front of the shirt was done too!  Looked pretty good to me.


I have washed the shirt since then and everything looks fine.  Now instead of a run-of-the-mill cardigan shirt (that had holes in the front and the back), I have a unique shirt that nobody else has!  It wasn’t too hard and I’m very happy with the results.


Now I feel like a lot of shirts with holes or stains can be salvaged with this cute trick! :)