How to darn an elephant

You remember Elijah.

Eek, what’s that on his side?

A hole!

I noticed it when we were doing the photo shoot with Otto.  My mom and I were horrified, so I took him home for repairs.  I’m not sure what caused the hole (moths?) but it was about three stitches wide and five rows tall.  It look me a few weeks to work up the courage, but I finally fixed it.

First, I duplicate stitched over seven or so stitches two rows down from the hole and started working up, to shore up any areas that might have been weakened.   When I got to the hole, I left loops for the three missing stitches that I needed to recreate.

Then I tightened the stitches over a needle.

I continued duplicate stitching two or three stitches past the hole, then went up to the next row, making new loops in the stitches on the needle and then tightening those stitches on the needle. I went on like this until I had closed the gap, then grafted the loose stitches back into the body.

It left a bit of a scar, but I think it’s not too noticeable.

I’m so happy that Elijah survived the surgery!