Make your own knee patches

So do you have a kid that wears holes in the knees of his pants in no time flat? I do! I have been working on Back-To-School pants for my boys and nothing breaks my heart more than to put my heart and soul into their clothing just have a rip or stain happen right off the bat. I know, I shouldn't be so attached, but I try my hardest to give them RTW look, but made ever so lovingly by mom. Yep, you won't get dorky clothes from me. I may be a sweatshop of labor during the busy season, but my pay in hugs and kisses make it well worth my efforts.

So today I was sewing up my first pair of pant and thinking how thin the twill felt (a remnant I had, no clue what it was from - can you say free pants???). So I pondered for a second, what if I put another layer in the knee area for double layer protection. I called my trusty friend (thanks Kim!) to get her input. The verdict was that two layers really isn't going to help unless I fuse them together. Well we all know necessity is the mother of invention, so I present to you my "custom made" knees patches!

First, I cut a piece of fabric and a piece of Heat N Bond Lite to the size I needed. Then I fused the two together per the package instructions (see below ~ sorry for the side ways picture, Blogger would not cooperate and rotate it like it needs to be, but you get the idea, right?).

Then I removed the backing and fused my "patch" to the knee area of the pants. The pants I'm making have two pleats in the knee area so it's impossible to see where the patch is from the right side. On the right side of my test sample it was hard to detect where I fused the two together as well, but I imagine if you use thicker fabric it might show slightly. Still, a few lines are WAY better than a hole in the knee days after school starts. Here is what the inside looks like after I fused the patch in place.

So there you have it, custom knee patches and my first tutorial! Ain't I something special today? ;-) I'll make sure to let you all know how it ends up working for my boys, but I don't see why it won't work like a charm. :-)