Anyone remember our patches from last year? Well, I’m at it again…
This stack of holey jeans has been staring me down to no avail for some time now.
But then in the course of a week, Keegan – our 4yo, put holes in his last three pairs of pants, leaving him with only a single pair of intact sweat pants. Somehow, in our rough and tumble home, I’m not surprised.
So I pulled out my trusty machine and set to work breathing new life into this pile of jeans!
For the third year running, I continue to patch them up and run these blue jeans into the ground. It is the family way… We use them up until they are fairly useless.
And I continue to score big brownie points with the boys. Of course, given my desire for aesthetics, I’m totally hooked on my way of patching jeans too. They are so stinkin’ cute and easy to do that I thought I’d pass on my little secret! So here you go:
Step 1– Collect your materials.
- Sturdy fabric for patches. I prefer neutral corduroy fabric. Brown and navy blue go with everything.
- Patch pattern. I’ve free handed most of mine, but have also been known to search google images for simple designs that might work. You can download some of my favorites here or continent shapes here. (Keegan recently requested an Africa patch and I was quite pleased with how it turned out.)
- sewing scissors
- pencil for tracing.
- Fabric glue
– an essential in my house!!! (hahaha, it is one of my favorite sewing notions!)
- Sewing machine and thread that matches patch fabric.
Step 2 – Prewash/dry and iron fabric.
Step 3 – Choose a design and trace outline on to back of corduroy fabric – taking care that the image will look correct when looking at the other side of fabric.
Step 4 – Reinforce edge of hole with stitches.
Step 5 – Add glue all over patch. I use a straight pin to smear mine around. This is a step that even a child could help with! Place a piece of paper in between the pant leg layers so the glue doesn’t go through the jean to the other side. Allow to dry.
Step 6 – Use a zigzag stitch to reinforce edges of the patch. Be sure not to sew through to the other side of the jean…
Step 7 – Admire your work before your kids swoop in and ‘take off’ with their new pants!
I’m always looking for fresh ideas. I’m all ears if any of you have ideas on other patch patterns!
I’m going to do this tomorrow- I have the same stack- thanks!
Adorable!
Wonderful idea and they are so cute! For new ideas, I would just look at what the kids love to play more than anything. At my house it would be a Lego brick. LOL But a car would be cute too. I totally love your Africa patch!
super cute!!
i love that you use up the jeans until there’s just about nothing left! 🙂
Fun! I use my Cricut to cut the stencils for our patches, since I’m rotten at freehanding. The girls are fond of dinosaur and butterfly shapes, and I put a volcano on my own ripped cargo pants.
I was actually thinking lately of patching a pair of jeans… they’re mine. I think this tutorial shall be helpful – thanks Heather
I feel so out of it, I’m not even sure what a cricut is… I should probably take a trip down to my craft supply store and educate myself! 🙂
I can totally picture a little girl loving a butterfly shape and your volcano sounds intriguing. I patched one of mine last year with a bird.
Oh, how adorable!
Great idea!