Moth holes
Also: moth damage
Moth holes are small, irregular holes chewed by clothes-moth larvae, most common in wool, cashmere, and other animal fibers. They're often clustered and can be tiny, so they're easy to miss — and because they're structural damage, they weigh heavily on the grade.
Moth holes cannot be removed, only mended
Short answer: it does not come out. Everything below is about what to do instead. We would rather tell you that in the first line than sell you an afternoon of scrubbing.
- 1First, kill whatever is still in the fibres: 72 hours in a sealed bag in the freezer, or a hot tumble if the fabric allows.
- 2Wash or dry-clean before mending, because larvae feed on the body oils in the fabric, not the wool itself.
- 3For a hole under about 5mm, darn it with matching yarn pulled from an inside seam allowance.
- 4For anything larger, invisible mending by a specialist is the only result that does not read as a repair, and it costs more than most garments are worth.
Stopping it happening again
Moths eat protein fibres and are drawn to sweat and food traces, so store wool clean and never store it dirty for a season. Cedar and lavender deter, they do not kill. Airtight containers work; a full wardrobe with airflow does not.
Darn a moth hole in a sweater
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
- Time:
- About 40 minutes
- Cost:
- Free if you harvest the yarn
Tools
- Darning needle
- Darning mushroom or a smooth round object
Materials
- Matching yarn, ideally pulled from an inside seam of the garment
1.Kill whatever is still in the fibres first
72 hours sealed in a bag in the freezer. Mending a garment that still has larvae in it produces a second hole beside your repair.
2.Wash or dry-clean before mending
Larvae feed on the body oils in the wool rather than the wool itself, so a clean garment is a much less attractive one.
3.Harvest matching yarn from the garment
Pull a length from an inside seam allowance or the hem. Nothing you buy will match an aged garment as well as the garment does.
4.Support the hole from behind
A darning mushroom under the hole keeps the tension even. Without it the darn puckers and pulls the surrounding knit in.
5.Lay parallel threads across the hole
Anchor in sound fabric well outside the opening, and run threads across in one direction first, close together.
6.Weave the second direction through
Go over and under the first set at right angles. Density is what makes a darn hold and what makes it disappear.
7.Know the limit
Above about 5mm this stops being invisible. Specialist invisible mending is the only result that does not read as a repair, and it costs more than most garments are worth.
How to spot it
- Hold the garment up to a light — pinholes glow through
- Check knit underarms, cuffs, and folded areas where larvae feed undisturbed
- Look for clusters of small holes rather than a single clean cut
Grade impact
Moth holes hit Structural Integrity (25%). Even a single small hole rules out the Excellent tier; multiple holes push a piece to Fair (5) or Poor (3–4), often making it a 'for repair' item rather than a wearable one.
Fixability
Small holes can be professionally reweaved or discreetly darned, which can recover some grade, but the repair itself must then be disclosed. Untreated, they tend to spread.
How to disclose it
Always disclose and photograph every hole with a scale reference. Moth holes are the classic hidden flaw that drives wool-resale disputes.
Moth holes — frequently asked
- How much do moth holes lower a grade?
- A lot — they're structural damage. A single small hole caps an item below Excellent; several push it to Fair or Poor. Disclosed and photographed, moth-damaged pieces still sell as repair or reweave projects.
It is staying, so the question is what it costs
Moth holes is permanent, which means the garment is worth what a garment with moth holes is worth. That is a smaller number than the same piece without it, and it is not zero. The gap between those two numbers is what a condition grade measures.
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