Rip in your jeans?

I had a PILE (and I legit mean pile) of clothes that needed hemming, mending, fixing, whatever. And in that pile was my husband's favorite work jeans. I would have thrown them out years ago but he refuses to part with them and insists I patch each new tear! I thought I would share my how-to especially since patchwork jeans are 'in' right now and you can easily save yourself big $$ by making your own!

The whole process is pretty easy if you have a sewing machine. If you don't then you can still patch them by hand but it's going to take you some time.

In image #1 you can see the giant crotch tear (lol) and you can see the patch of denim I cut from another old pair of jeans. The color is way off as you can see but if I flip over the patch it matched better (#2). I pinned the patch and made sure it covered the entire tear. Now you pin from the outside (#3) with the jeans being right side out (not insideout as would normally with most hems). You also sew right side out when doing patch work.

Then you sew using the zigzag pattern of your machine (#4) and make sure you are using the right needle as well. Most needles are color coded and I used the green which is the thickest of my needles for my machine. Denim is a tough fabric and will break the standard (red) needle. Make sure you sew slowly as well, this will help ensure the needle stays intact. You can see the sewn patch (#5) and then I cut the excess patch fabric off (#6). 

And VOILA! Crotch hole no more! Now the hubby can hide his goods from all the world to see ;) As you can see this isn't the first crotch hole repair in these jeans...ugh. But follow the same process for any patchwork you want to do on your favorite old pair of jeans! Have fun!

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