AboutHenry Babcock Expertise I learned needlepoint from my grandmother over 30 years ago. I can answer most questions on the subject. I know about producing needlepoint as well as cleaning, repairing and restoring.
Question I have a finished needlepoint pillow that was chewed by our puppy. The fabric is undamaged, but he chewed a hole in the canvas/threads which is approximately one inch by one inch. Can I repair this? I am unsure how to work the new canvas/threads with the pillow stuffing. It is small and I have resigned myself with redoing the whole project. Thank you for your help.
Answer Dawn,
I sincerely apologize for the delay.
I too have had the puppy problem with a needlepoint pillow. They're so "cute" when they are young... ;-)
The best approach is going to be removing the fabric back and stuffing of the pillow, or at least opening up the pillow a bit and removing enough of the stuffing so you have access to the back side of the canvas.
There are two ways to approach this type of repair. Either way, you will have to unstitch the yarn around the damaged area leaving about an inch of undamaged canvas all around the hole. Tuck the loose yarn ends underneath finished stitches on the backside to secure them.
Using regular sewing thread, you can baste a piece of new canvas, lining up all the canvas threads, underneath the damaged area and restitch with matching yarn through both layers of canvas.
The other method is more challenging, but guarantees a seamless repair. Take some of the canvas threads from the unstitched edge of the canvas (or use canvas threads from another piece of canvas), thread one into your needle and, from the back side of the undamaged edge of the open area, begin by "weaving" the new canvas thread parallel to one of the original canvas threads, following the over-under pattern until you get to the damaged part. Of course, the new canvas thread is just going to go straight across the hole in the original canvas, and then you will follow the over-under pattern to the other edge of the undamaged part of the canvas. Repeat this with all the horizontal canvas threads. Now do the same thing with the vertical threads, following the over-under pattern. When you are done, you should have woven canvas filling the hole.
Restitch the area with matching yarn, carefully going over both parallel threads in the undamaged area and stitching the repaired area as if it was normal canvas.
Now you can replace all the stuffing, and close the pillow back up.
