Do your kids (in my home read BOYS) come home with jeans looking like this? Mine do and it happen in a matter of a few short weeks. Note the pants on the right were purchased only a few weeks ago!!!
So what's a mom to do short of buying jeans every month and burning a hole in her clothing budget? Well fix them of course! Yes, I do make the boys' jeans myself and those seem to hold up better, but sometimes I just don't have enough time or find them for under $10 and buy them at the store.
Here are the fruits of my labor. I used my computer program for my embroidery machine and imported a design. Then to make it into a patch, I put an applique shape around it. It was super easy to do. And so I didn't have to unhem the jeans, I removed the inseam or outseam (depending on which seam wasn't double top stitched) from about 1" above the hem to close to the crotch and spread it open so it was flat. Sorry I forgot to take a picture of this step. Then I stitched out the design and sewed things back closed. My boys were beyond thrilled and thought they looked so cool - yay Mom!
I have a HUGE train fan. Anything trains he loves and he adores the Santa Fe diesel. I was snooping around the net and found this little gem for FREE at Ann The Gran ~ just search trains after you log in and you'll see it.
For my middle son I made a dog patch from Embroidables (link opens to the design - not free tho).
Up close and thank you blogger for not turning it the correct way - grr!
And lastly a fire hydrant from Designs By Juju (link opens to the set). This one isn't my favorite one, I mostly don't like the light gray I used. It's a good design, it's just my color choices I don't care for.
The base of each patch is the reverse side of denim. While weeding out the boys' play clothes of what fits whom, I found a few pairs of pants that looked really bad so I just cut them off to make them into shorts. Apparently I'm a little strange because I thought I should save the lower legs of the jeans in case I need a little denim for something. Viola, patches for pants! I figured denim as the base would be more durable than any other fabric I had and I used the back side as a design element.Now go patch some jeans already!
14 comments:
Wow!!!! I wish I could send my son's jeans to you to fix.
Beautiful way to save those jeans. Are you quite sure your boys don't do this on purpose, so that they can have those great applique's? ;)
Memories. I remember fixing my youngest sons pants on a regular basis. He finally stopped wearing out the knees and then started tearing the pockets half off. Love your fix. Makes them better than new.
Really cool solution. Eventually they do outgrow this stage. Then it's trying to keep the pants from always being too short.
Taylor came home with a hole in her jeans today - I wonder if I could find a good tween patch for her.
BTW, I always save parts of jeans - you never know when a project calls for denim scraps!
I don't have kids, but I think that is such a cool solution for fixing the jeans. Way to go! :)
I think I want an embroidery machine. What kind do you have? Really clever solution you came up with.
Cool patches! My DS had to make do with a fusible woven interfacing on the inside and stitching on the front. Luckily I managed to find a thread almost identical to the jeans colour so it's no visible.
My farmer dh is the one who does this on a regular basis so I feel for you with multiple destroyers to keep patched up. He also tears up his workshirts as well. I have even painted lightly over the patches at times with acrylic paints to tone them down if it is a small hole. Luckily he only wears the stuff to work in around here and does not care what the mend looks like.
The patches look wonderful. Do you hoop or stick down the jeans and applique the patch directly on the the jeans or embroider the patch and sew it on the regular way? The patches you are doing look like they could be a design element on new children's clothing as they are so cute. Great fix.
Btw I just saw the blog post about the pottery barn loft bed that was for your daughter. The room and bed is fantastic. I am behind on my blog reading. mssewcrazy
Nice fix Melissa! Aren't embroidery machines great? I don't know how I lived before I got one. (Well, yeah I DO know how I lived...I embroidered by hand! Mary :)
Oh I think they're so cute ! We still have this problem and my boy is 14! Mine never tired of rolling around on the ground apparently.
Yes, Yes, Yes. You have no idea how angry I got when I saw the holes, and then when I saw what he did with them. Great idea Melissa. I have to try that.
I have saved denim for years; I just keep a bag in my sewing room to collect the cut off legs and beat up pants. You really have the problem handled with patches; when your kids grow up a bit they may decide that they want something less visible (mine did). I became an expert at rebuilding worn out favorite jeans and still work a few pair each year. Keep stashing that used denim, it has another life coming as inside patches -- and get some C&C chambray colored thread, it will blend perfectly with faded areas that need patches on the wrong side. I perfected a method of using scrap flannel to rebuild the bum of jeans that get so thin you can read the newspaper through them -- it all takes time but when a terminal pair of jeans lives to see another day you will be a hero to your kids.
We have a basket FULL of holey jeans. The will eventually (maybe)be turned into shorts. My boys tiny holes immediately grow from tiny to across the whole leg, seam to seam. My boys see the tiny hole as an invitation to see how much they can rip the fabric. Alas, no hole patching for me. I keep them all because I never know when I might be able to use them.
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