Long story short, I got a bit over-excited with my scissors while trimming some thread and have accidentally put a small nick in the fabric for my Sephiria coat. It's probably only about 5mm long but I don't want to leave it unrepaired, because quite apart from how sloppy that is, the nick is in the back of the coat, somewhere around the shoulder, so I suspect it may tear further if I just leave it and try wearing the coat.

Sewing a patch on top isn't really an option as it'll be really noticeable, as will stitching over the nick to hold it together. I'm kinda thinking maybe I should get some fabric glue and glue a patch to the underside of the fabric, but I don't know how messy the nick will look afterwards.

Anyone got any advice? Any other repair methods I haven't considered? Thanks.

This may or may not work and it may still be noticable however its up to you if you want to try it out

You could use some iron on violene its like a shirt stiffener for collars and such, basically iron on the violene on the inside of the jacket and on the outside try to patch the fabric in...
Then add Violene on the other shoulder on the other side so you dont have one rigid shoulder.

The problems you could face are:
Your fabric may not be suitable for use with violene
The fabric could continue to fray

Maybe you could post pics of the charcter design and show the damaged area so we can see if theres another way of covering it up

other than that i think you may have to start again

still you'll do it in half the time this time XD

Just noticed your Ref http://cosplayisland.co.uk/files/costumes/54/334/SephiriaArks.png
I think Violene will work as its like a stifener with a heat activaited glue and your frilly pouldrons will cover up any nasties you may have XD

you may yet be in luck

you could always do a tester peice and see how it goes

What Fabric is it?

if its a pvc or leatherette you can get away using a solvent free glue and a patch of pvc on the inside, i wouldnt recomend that for a more porus material though..

if it Is a more porus fabric you can put a patch on the inside with wonderweb (iron on hemming stuff) if you have any cut offs of the fabric left i'd suggest doing a few test patches to see what holds best and is less noticable..

hope this helps,

I'm not sure what kind of fabric it is, to be honest, but it's definitely a lot more porous than leatherette or PVC!

I've had the iron-on interfacing/wonderweb solution suggested to me a few times now so I think I'll try that and hope for the best! I really hope I don't have to cut the piece out all over again - getting the replacement fabric will involve a train journey >_<

Depnding on what your fabic is like, how well you thread blends and where the tear is, you could try using the button-hole function on your sewing machine to hold the two pieces together. I did a similar thing with my Jessica costume, and even I can't see where the tear is now.If it's just a small nick near a seam you'll probably get away with it if you have trouble with wonderwebbing or similar.

Unfortunately I don't think my sewing machine has a buttonhole function - it's a very basic model!

I've gotten some iron-on fabric repair stuff, which I'm going to have a go with. Fingers crossed!

GOOD LUCK XD