How to Patch a Hole on Your Jacket or Tent

Backpacking Repair Kit

Making a Repair

Fixing a tear in a jacket, tent or backpack is easy with repair tape and scissors.

1. Before making a repair, make sure the area around the tear is clean and dry.

A black puffy jacket sleeve with a hole in it

2. Cut a circular patch that is about 1/2 inch wider than the cut or tear.

Cut Patch

3. Bring the tear edges together, remove the paper backing, and apply the patch.

circular patch

4. Rub all the patch edges down to form a strong bond between the tape and the fabric.

tape edges

5. Admire your repair!

admire repari

Summary

Repair tape is affordable and lightweight. A roll of repair tape will cost about $10 ($0.10 a square inch) and you can buy various colors that match your fabric. I recommend getting a  color that matches your jacket. It is a good idea to carry at least one 3 inch by 3 inch patch that can be shaped later for the specific repair.

 

The ripstop repair tape we used weighed about 0.2 grams per square inch. Therefore a small emergency repair patch will not weigh you down.

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weight of tape