We go through lots of jeans at our house. For years I have kept a stash of iron on patches and used them frequently. Girls got a heart shaped patch; boys got a plain old rectangle or square. They were a good quick fix, but after a while they start to peel off...and they just are not very attractive! I have continued this love/hate relationship with iron on patches because I really wasn't sure what else to do with holey jeans ( besides make them into shorts,which we also do!). I was very excited to see this post about patching jeans...functional and quite adorable, in my opinion! The tutorial gives a good explanation of the process, but basically you tear out the side seam of the jeans, sew on a fabric patch with an embroidery stitch on your machine, and then sew the seam back using the sewing machine.
Tearing out the side seam of the jeans was not nearly as difficult as I had anticipated. The tutorial suggests using denim patches for boys, but since my little guy is still well within the age for cute fabric selections, I called my mom to see what kind of "boyish" fabric she had in her quilt scrap collection. I let Thunderbolt pick out the fabric scrap he wanted me to use for his patch. I cut the faric to size, doubling the fabric for extra strength. Unfortunately, I could not get my embroidery stitch selector to work, so I had to go with a straight stitch. I was a little frustrated by this because I think this application is an excellent use for those fancy stitch options...extra strength for the patch and a nice decorative touch, especially if you use a contrasting thread color. ( I couldn't even get my zig-sag to work, but this would also provided extra strength if you do not have other stitches to choose from.) I was pleased with the outcome, despite my stitch limitations, and am looking forward to doing some cute patchwork for the girls the next time they are in need of a patch!
Very, very cute!! Thanks for linking to our blog!
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