The Tightwad’s Notebook–Lesson 14: Learn to Darn Socks (Seriously)

by TFF, posted in Daily Living Tips, The Tightwad's Notebook, Uncategorized

The Tightwad’s Notebook–Lesson 14: Learn to Darn Socks (Seriously)

Socks are expensive. Especially soccer and other sports socks. That’s why I decided to get serious about learning to darn a sock the semi-correct way. I’m not about to go out and spend $7 every time there’s a hole in my son’s soccer socks. I used to darn a sock by just sewing together the holes. That made it uncomfortable to wear, the sock would stretch and the hole would sometimes reopen. And, that method only works for small holes. For darning large holes, I have to thank Amy Dacyczyn for her “Quickie Darning Method” found in her original “Tightwad Gazette” book (page 150-151).

She advises finding a “sacrificial” sock–you know, the ones you ditch because you can’t find its mate. Keep a couple of these in various colors. I want to kick myself (no pun intended) because I used up a bunch of these mate-less socks as dusting rags. But as soon as your kids grow out of socks, keep them in a sacrificial pile. You won’t regret it.

Here are steps for darning a sock (hard to take some shots with one hand!)–it only takes a few minutes to do this and saves a bunch of money–why throw out an otherwise perfectly good pair of socks when you can darn them?

Step 1: Find an old sacrificial sock the same color as the one that needs patching. Here, my son’s soccer sock (lower left) had no heel! The hole was large.
Step 2: I cut out a patch from the heel of the sacrificial sock. I cut it slightly larger than the hole to give me enough room to sew it in place.
Step 3: Turn sock inside out, place patch, start small running stitches all the way around to keep the patch in place.
Step 4: For easier stitching, especially on the heel, slip the sock being patched on your hand while sewing with the other hand. That way the patch stretches to a natural position.
Step 5: Turn sock right-side out, put the sock on your hand again, and do another round of running stitches to further secure the patch.
Step 6: After sewing, smooth out sock, clip any threads, quietly slip sock back into child’s drawer so he will never know you even patched it.
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4 thoughts on “The Tightwad’s Notebook–Lesson 14: Learn to Darn Socks (Seriously)”

  2. I still have my grandmother’s old “darning egg” (looks like a wooden egg on a stick, used to insert into the sock being darned to keep from sewing your fingers). You’ve inspired me to break it out for support sock repair.

    1. Another thought–I found some great wood in my husband’s workshop to use, perfect for this (some spindles with rounded tops, good for kid socks, that sort of thing). Got me thinking that there are alternatives to my hand, lol! ~Marilyn

    2. This is so great for children of this generation to see and learn how to do! Marilyn, I say tell your son what great thing you did for him AND the world today; you did your part to avoid being part of the throw-away society in which we live. ~Aimee

      On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 10:17 AM, Two Frugal Fairfielders WordPress wrote:

      > Another thought–I found some great wood in my husband’s workshop to use, > perfect for this (some spindles with rounded tops, good for kid socks, that > sort of thing). Got me thinking that there are alternatives to my hand, > lol! ~Marilyn > >

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