Repairing a tear in a Judogi

Greetings all,

This topic is exactly what it says on this tin- how would you suggest going about repairing a tear (a relatively minor one; specifically about 7 cm/3 inches long, across the shoulder, not along a seam) in a double weave Judogi? Would you prefer to patch or stitch or both or otherwise and in each case, using what?

Your suggestions are much appreciated.

Regards,


-Q

I'd patch from the back with a piece of heavy cotton cloth like a denim and stitch it all together. Probably be stronger than before. Use heavy duty white cotton thread and it should blend in well. If you're going to do the work try to do it once and be done with it, it may outlast the rest of the gi.

I just had to repair a rip in my son's trousers - god knows how he managed it!

I cut some of the extra fabric left on the inside of the trousers where the reinforcements had been made, and put these on the inside behind the tear. Then sewed over the tear using a short, dense zigzag stitch on my sewing machine, so the stitching straddled the tear and went thought the fabric behind. I then sewed another line of zigzag stitch about a cm either side of the tear, again going through the underneath fabric as well. Then sewed across the ends to stop the tear extending. Took me ten minutes, repair not noticeable unless you go looking for it (and it was in a place that noone in their right mind would go looking!) and saved me the cost of new trousers.

Just look for a heavy cotton drill or cotton twill for the patch. It would be well worth washing the fabric a couple of times before doing the sewing job as pure cotton fabrics can shrink in their first couple of washes so it would be better to have this shrinkage occur before it is attached to your (presumably already shrunk) jacket.

For a double weave jacket you would probably need a thick/stronger sewing needle on the machine.

At last - something I can authoritatively reply to on the judo forum

I'm doing well to thread a needle. Do you take in work?

I can help - but international postage rates would probably mean that a new judogi would be cheaper...

A poly blend to the sewing thread will save you from the thread shrinking, but yeah, use heavy duty thread on both the needle and the bobbin.

The zigzag stitch works well. I take a piece of old gi - gi that can't be used as an independent gi anymore, snip out a patch that's bigger than the hole. Pin it over the tear. Use the zigzag stitch to go around the hole, making sure you're covering the edge of the hole. The tighter the stitch, the better, or littler fingers may get caught. Once you've circled the hole, go around the patch, attaching the edges of the patch firmly to the gi. If you want to reinforce, you can use a straight stitch to make a nice "X" from corner to corner.

Be aware; it's a jacket. Stress points aren't always that obvious on jackets. A good patch job can be decimated in one class if the hole is along a stress line. Take another jacket with you when you test your sewing. At the first sign of tearing, you know you need to do at least anther row of stitching or that the jacket should become a donor jacket (where you get future patching material in hopes that you can salvage the jacket for another season or two).

You can usually patch pants with very good results. Jackets, otoh, are much more finicky.

Or one of these ... getting hard to find though ...

come on! sewing is not a lost art form. My entire 7th grade class, male AND female had to take sewing (we had to take metals, too - egalitarianism and all. Guess where I got the better grade). Can't imagine things have changed so much that you guys have no clue about sewing using a machine. If you have no clue, get one - it really makes life a lot easier if you can set in a fresh zipper into your favorite hoodie or pants, or fix a tear in your gear bag, or tailor your pants or put a back patch on. If you want to get more advanced, you can take your favorite judo t-shirts, as they age and get holes in the pits and turn them into patches for a terrific, very personal quilt.

And, when your jacket tears again, you'll know that it's because the tear is part of a stress area and there's nothing you or anybody can do to make it functional again.

Or, you could take the elements from the sewing machine, turn it into a nice tattoo gun, and just tattoo a jacket onto your body for the ultimate in tight judogi.

Greetings all, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this thread. I ended up patching the tear, and another one that opened on the collar (it seems my gi is getting old) from the inside with cotton tea towel fabric, layered and stitched first with ordinary cotton thread, then when that soon started to come loose, heavy embroidery thread that seems surprisingly strong. My repairs didn't turn out particularly neat or pretty, but seem like they will hold. Thank you very much for your suggestions, they were very helpful.

Stacey, re tattoo jacket... That is certainly dedication. Perhaps a more practical option would be the same done with a rash guard instead, over which gi is optional? Or maybe just tattooed everything and short shorts, effectively eliminating the majority of all this clothing related fuss.

Regards,

-Q