My friend gave me this heavy wool blanket she had bought with the original intention of reupholstering her chair with it. Having changed her mind she used it in her spare room for a while before giving it to me, knowing I had always admired it. It wasn’t in the best condition when she had bought it; I know that’s why she had thought she would cut it up to fix her chair. As long as it has been mine I have had the want to mend it, but after a fruitless search for blanket edging at one craft store and some time searching online, I put it off for a while (or a couple of years). This past week my husband finally moved his office upstairs as his work from home had been extended (with the understanding that working from home some would be the new normal whenever his office reopened) and with his office occupying our spare room I had my attention brought back to this blanket that I like over the foot of the bed in that room… I went to yet another store, this time a fabric specific one, and went with a more open mind on color choice and found something that would work. I went with mint green for my satin trim as I thought it would nicely contrast to the blanket as there was no peach to match as it had originally.
Very pretty and totally worth all the work I was going to put into it.
This was the worst of the damage, but as you can see the satin edge was frayed the entire way. To fix the missing wool I placed it over top of Pendleton scrap wool and cut a piece to fit. I then used a blanket stitch with embroidery thread to bind the two together. When I sewed on the new satin edge it covered the patched area with only a few stitches showing. Having filled in the area it kept it feeling solid so it would help keep its integrity and also better hide the damage. I really should have taken pictures of the patched stage but my phone was dead and I was on a mission!
All done! Thin spots mended, edges replaced and hand stitched with a double seam.
*A note on mending thin spots (moth-caused likely)- I repaired mine with embroidery thread. Going back and forth over the warp and under the napped fuzz you can kind of pull it back together. Depending on size you can end up with the repair being entirely invisible or with it showing a little, so matched thread is a must. Either way, it looks better and is stronger for the repairs. As you can see, none of them stand out from the blanket as a whole!
I believe in taking care of what you have, fixing what you can, and making things last. There is a lot of throw away fashion not only in clothes but also in interior decorating and I really hate that. Well made goods will last if you take care of them and they are worth mending if they get messed up or when you buy them second hand. A wool blanket should outlast me!
I did some research on this blanket and where it came from. Its label says Baron, which was a mill in Brigham City, UT from 1870 until the mill closed in 1988. Looking up images of their blankets I found some very similar to mine that were said to be from the 1940s and 1950s. The mill was important to the Mormon community there as they were supposed to be independent as a community and the mill made blankets and clothes they needed and could sell. There are few wool mills left in America so repairing this felt a bit important, like preserving history.
As with all my projects here I hope to inspire you to make/repair things of your own. Maybe some of my projects will help get the ideas flowing or help with some of the “how” questions you may have.