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. 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

An Over-all Makeover

 Hello Readers. I love over-alls. Maybe it's because they are so casual and comfortable. What ever the reason is, I love them. These over-alls were great but I didn't really like the distressing on my upper thighs though. Let's fix that.

 Before and after.

 I saw these over-alls at the thrift store and really liked the light wash. I thought the legs were a little long on me so I needed to fix that too.

I unpicked the stitches so that I could unroll the cuffs. 

I cut the white strings out of my way. Then I cut the legs shorter and then I wanted to reattach the hem pieces to the over-alls. You can see I cut about 2 inches from the legs. 

I clipped the hemline pieces back in place and headed to the serger machine. 

I used my serger to put the pant legs back together. 

You can see the seam where I put the legs back together on the left and how I wanted to place the patches to cover the holes in the legs. These patches will cover the holes, cover my legs, and make me more comfortable. 

 

I had a couple more embroidered patches that I decided to throw on these over-alls. Go big or go home!

 

I used my sewing machine to attach the patches. You could also sew them on by hand if you like that
 kind of sewing.

 

I like the patches, the shorter length, and I like my thighs covered. It's a win-win-win. 

 

I even put a heart patch on the back. I have had these little embroidered pieces for a while, I was happy to be able to use them. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.
 

 

 

Artistic Jeans

 Hello Readers. Do you like distressed denim? I love almost anything of  denim and jeans are my everyday uniform. But these are a little too distressed for me. Especially in winter. My legs would freeze in these. They were only 25 cents at one of my favorite thrift store! I brought them home and decided to patch all these holes.

 

Before and after.

 

 

The holes in these jeans were not going to work in the winter where I live. It is freezing outside. I would turn into an ice cube. 

I need some patches. I decided to use this fabric I had on hand. This fabric is cotton and has a nice weight to it, it's pretty thick. It is for home interior decorating projects. It will be a good match for the thicknes for these jeans. I could cut out some of the pictures and use them as patches.

I cut out the pictures with my rotary cutter. I cut the pictures out based on the size of the picture and the size of the holes in my jeans. I wanted the patches to be a bit larger than the holes.

I arranged the patches on top of the jeans to make sure the holes were fully covered. I arranged them carefully to make sure my plan would work.

 

I used this iron-on hem tape to hold the patches in place. Pins would also work but they always seem to shift around and stab me when I am sewing so this tape will be safer for me. 

I placed the tape under the patches. I put it around the edges and ironed the patches to the jeans following the directions on the package. 

I unbuttoned the jeans. This allowed me to get the jeans into position on the sewing machine. I used a zigzag stitch all around the patches. The stitching will hold much better than the iron-on tape alone over the long term. 

It took a while to get around all the patches and wiggle the jeans around my sewing machine but it worked out great.

My jeans were finished. The patches were all in place and all the holes were covered. My legs would be warm and covered all winter. 

I love the colorful and fun patches. This was such a fun way to "fix" the distressed spots on my jeans. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

Patching Distressed Denim

 Hello Readers. I have always liked distressed denim. It just seems relaxed and there isn't any pressure or stress about it being perfect. It's a little messy. It's casual and fun.

Before and after.

This skirt was cute but it was meant to be low in the waist. I wanted to raise the waist but that means the distressing will be up on my thigh and I wasn't comfortable with that open hole so high on my leg. I wanted to patch the hole from the inside with this fabric I had in my stash. It had little green sneakers all over it and I just thought it was cute. 

I cut off the long white threads just to get them out of the way. This will open up the hole but I am going to fill it in so it's OK.

I cut a piece of the fabric and made sure it covered the hole fully. I turned the skirt inside out to check the coverage. 

I stitched around the hole to secure the fabric to the denim. I patched the other hole the same way.

I cut off the excess fabric away from the patch. I sewed the new side seams to make the waist smaller. When the waist is smaller the skirt will sit higher on my body. 

The skirt has a higher waist and the patches are a fun addition. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Year End Update***- This skirt was casual and fun. I loved it but I haven't worn it again. I haven't worn the sweater either. Why?

Save That Sweater #1

 Hello Readers. Sometimes clothes get worn out. It happens. But if you love something and want to keep wearing it and make it last longer there are ways to mend and repair clothes that anyone can do. 

Cover that hole with a patch.

Holes like this can get bigger and bigger if they are not mended. If you don't sew you might think you can't fix this. But you can. You can use an iron on patch. No sewing needed. 

 

I ordered a set of daisy patches from Amazon. you can find them at a sewing supple or fabric store too. I got about 2 dozen. I had a few holes in this old favorite sweater and I wanted to cover the holes and I wanted to scatter some flowers all over the sweater.

 

I placed the flower patch on top of the hole. I tried to center it right on the hole but I didn't stress about it too much. 

 

I used my iron to press the patch onto the sweater. I set my iron to a medium-high temperature and it only took a minute to set the patch.
 

There is no rule or plan to this. I just put patches all around. 

This sweater is soft and cozy and oversize. I didn't want to let it go. The patches will give some extra time with this old favorite. I liked how the daisies brightened up the plain dark gray color too. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

***Year End Update- This cozy cashmere sweater is a favorite and I love the sweater even more with the daisies.