How To: Patch Jeans

How to.. Close and cover a hole in a pair of jeans!

Holes in clothing let cold wind in. This is bad! Buying new clothes is a shame, if they old ones are salvagable.. especially when we're talking something personal, like one's jeans. Let's patch'em up!

Hole

Hole gaping!

Fold the material back into its intended formation, and pin the hole closed, if possible. If your hole is just a hole - rather than mostly burst stitching, like here - you will want to sew around the outside of it (imagine drawing a circle around the hole, and sew along that line) to steady the fabric.

Sew up, with reinforced stitching, anywhere you can see there might be stress. Make it as secure as you can. I used crossed stitches, because I wanted to and it felt right. I admit, I am not trained in sewing - I just do it. You'll want to use upholstery thread rather than normal cotton (usually the display stands are right next to each other, but you can ask a shop professional if you are nervous) to account for the heaviness and hard-wearing life of a pair of jeans.

Pick your picture.

Now, I started this project because I had a super-great idea of something that could make a patch and it just happened to coincide with my sister wearing a hole in the seat of her jeans. I have since (as in, just now when I google-checked) discovered that I was not the first to have this marvelous idea! But that is fine, because really - you'd have to be disappointed if no-one else thought of it in twenty-thirty years, wouldn't you?

Anyway, I scanned the blue version straight off the inner sleeve of a record, flipped it, scaled it and printed it on iron-on transfer paper (available from any art, craft or stationary store, I'd imagine). That meant I got a border around the logo and slogan - which is good, because it gives me an obvious line to sew around.

You don't have to go to all that trouble, though. You could buy a pre-made patch, you could use your great-grandmother's firefighters' pennant, you could just draw straight onto transfer paper if you pleased. It's up to you. You could also sew or glue your cotton transfer onto felt, as seen here. I drew this onto transfer paper and ironed it onto an old thick-cotton vest to patch a smaller hole..

Pin the printed, ironed, cut-out patch over the hole (you can place it as you please; it doesn't have to be centered, as long as it's covering it

At this point, you may become excited at how AMAZING your project (or your kind big sister's project) is going to turn out. This is ok. Perhaps it is even to be expected. There is no shame in having a bit of an early celebration.

When you have gathered yourself once more.. Sew it on! Backstitch is best. Do you know how to do that? If you don't, click here!

Now at this point in my example, we experienced a power cut. But that's no reason to stop! Especially when the person who wants this patching done has to go out to play a show in half an hour and is jigging about with sudden nervousness!

For example, an iPod can provide localised lighting until you finish.

Finished! Ready to rock, non?

Later in the week I sewed directly around the logo, to keep the patch close to the jean fabric. If you use a loose material for the patch such as jersey, it may bag a little if you don't add some anchoring stitches around the inner body of your patch as well as the edge). You could also try coating the back side of it with glue though, to hold it firm.. I wonder if that would work? Experiment!