I wear my favorite Icebreaker hoodie so much that I started wearing out the elbows.

My favorite article of clothing for my outdoor adventures is my IceBreaker GT 260 Hoodie. In the fall, winter, and spring; I wear that hoody almost every day. It is comfortable. It is warm. It is pricey, but so worth it.

This particular Icebreaker hoodie has a rear zip pocket to stash an energy gel or to carry a thin wallet – something like that. I have never used that pocket. So, when I was looking at this hoodie to see how I might repair it, I discovered that there is plenty of fabric inside of that pocket to make to elbow patches.

Here is how I hacked my hoodie’s back pocket to make elbow patches.

I sewed up bigger holes with poly-blend thread. Ideally you want to use the same material, but there is no merino thread. Now that I have made many repairs on my Icebreaker clothing with a poly-blend thread, I know that I will switch to straight cotton. Cotton has a little more give and flexibility.
I carefully cut out the extra fabric from the back pocket of the hoodie.
I lined up the DIY patches over the elbow repair area and pinned it in place.
I sewed everything up, by hand, with tiny stitches.

Icebreaker is an amazing brand. You can explore directly at their website. How they manage their animals is very humane. If that is important to you, then you will be impressed with Icebreaker as a company.

Icebreaker make fantastic clothes for all seasons and all weather conditions. When I first started wearing Icebreaker products, I was nervous about wearing it in the summer. I wondered how wool would work for me in the heat of the mid summer and high humidity. So, I bought a light colored t-shirt to test it out. Yeah, it is everything they say it is: comfortable, quick drying, easy wearing.

My favorite feature of Icebreaker clothing is that it does not get stinky with body odor. And if I begin to smell a hint of body odor, I can hang it on my clothes line outside and overnight, it is fresh as a summer morning. That cuts down on laundry costs.

You own the world’s best socks and they are beginning to show some wear and tear. Wouldn’t it be nice if your favorite Smartwool socks lasted just a little bit longer?

In this picture article, I hope to show you how you can salvage your socks and make them last a bit longer. Smartwool and Icebreaker are excellent clothing companies and you pay a premium for THAT excellent quality. Over time, your know your socks or other merino gear will show some wear, especially if you are outside on a frequent basis. So, for a moment, let’s refer to the old saying that our grandmothers taught us: “a stitch in time saves nine.” Repairing your merino clothing now, or right when you spot a hole or a spot that is wearing thin, will save you a bigger repair and will extend the life of your favorite and probably expensive merino gear.

In the first picture above, you can see where my toe is beginning to wear a thin spot in my Smartwool socks. I choose some black cotton multipurpose thread(1) and a just a regular sewing needle I took from my daughter’s sewing basket.

Next, I found an old light bulb and inserted it into the Smartwool sock. The bulb makes the sewing just a little bit easier. I did turn the sock inside-out for the repair process. I’ve heard that you can make sock repair on either the inside or outside. You decide.