Mending Old Jeans 2

 Hello Readers. My daughter found these wonderful appliqued jeans for me at a thrift store. The floral details were so pretty. They were seriously distressed. I like distressing but these were a little too much for me because of the location of some of the distressing. Some parts of me need to be covered. I am picky like that. Let me show you how I patched them up. 

 Before and after.  

I loved these jeans but the holes on the upper thigh were too revealing for me and it's winter. And I would freeze with all these holes. The knee holes would make me really cold as well. The length was not right either, but I can fix all that. 

 

I wanted to patch some of these holes for warmth and modesty. I was particularly worried about the holes at the hips. (My underwear would show through some of these holes. I can't go out like that!)

  

I do not have enough scrap denim to patch all these holes. I did have some of these iron-on patches.  

  

The patches are denim looking but they can do so much for me than scrap fabric could do. 

 

The reverse side of the patches are shiny. That shiny side goes directly on the fabric. When the patch is ironed, it sticks to the fabric. 

 

I turned my jeans inside out and placed the patches on the holes I wanted to cover. I used all the different shades of blue that I had on-hand. I wasn't worried about matching the jeans exactly but you can match your patches if you want to. I placed the patches shiny side on the fabric and ironed them in place. I used a very hot iron, (Similar here.) follow the directions on your patches in regards to the desired temperature needed for the iron. 

 

I turned the jeans right-side out. I ironed the patched spots again from this side to make sure the patches were well adhered to the denim fabric. I didn't want loose patches. 

 

Here is a look at one of the patched spots. The fraying covered the patch quite a bit. To add strength to my patches I sewed over the jeans and patches. I used light blue thread to match the fabric. I sewed forward and reverse, back and forth, over and over. The stitches will keep the patches in place for sure, even over time with washing and drying. The holes will be covered and I won't have to worry about it.  

 

Here is another patched spot. You can see the stitches clearly here. I kept sewing back and forth to cover the spot. I did not patch every single spot on the jeans, just the larger ones on the hips and upper thighs. 

  

 The knees also bothered me. The holes were actually not on my knees. They were lower because I am really short.  I decided to patch them using the same kind of iron-on patches, these were just larger patches because the holes were larger in these 2 spots.

 

I ironed these patches inside the jeans with my iron, just like I did with the other patches. They ironed in place just as easily. 

 

 I could not get the leg of the jeans under my sewing machine so I reinforced these patches with some hand sewing. I sewed around the hole and around the patch to attach the patch to the jeans. I think sewing the patches in place makes them MUCH stronger and they will stay in place much better over time if you take this step. 

 

These jeans were so distressed that I did not hem the pant legs, I just cut them to the length I wanted. The edges will fray and that will match the rest of the distressing in the jeans well. 

 

 I had a sweater that matched the applique design really well. I really liked these jeans. They had a fun bohemian vibe and I love the distressing, patches and visible mending. Repairing things that we use and love makes me feel good. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.