Patched Jeans: How to Simply Mend Torn Jeans
Patching Jeans is Simple, Easy, and Looks Great Too!
Who can afford to toss out a pair of ripped jeans? And with today's casual styles, why would anyone want to? Many rips and tears in jeans are considered decorative; but my kids put rips in the knees that leaves the whole lower part of the pant hanging on the ground!
When you really need to salvage torn jeans with a patch, there is a simple method that takes almost no skill and looks great when you're done. As a bonus, the messier you make it, the cooler the patched jeans will look!
Material for Patching Jeans
From a pair of jeans that weren't salvageable, or that you cut off to make shorts, save the bottom of the pant leg! Use that for mending other jeans.
Simple Steps to Patching Torn Jeans!
Your ripped jeans will look great with this method for patching.
Your kid has torn the knees of his pants ... again! They still fit at the waist, and they're
even long enough at the ankle, so you'd prefer not to just cut them off for shorts.
First trim away the loose threads, to prevent them getting tangled in your sewing machine.
From your salvaged jean material (from jeans cut off for shorts) find a section that has little wear, and cut a piece big enough to cover the tear generously, with lots of space around. If you try to patch just around the hole, it will tear out again very quickly. This section covers almost an inch above and below the tear.
Pin it! You'll be squeezing the pant leg onto the sewing machine
and moving it around a lot, so don't try to just hold it.
Do a long side first. That will help anchor the patch when you pull the pins out as you're sewing. Don't get too close to the edge! First, in a high-stress area like the knee, the patch will just pull away from the seam. Second, leaving an unfinished edge will allow the patch to attain a cool frayed edge.
Turn and do the first short side, again not too close to the edge. No need to cut the thread, just move the needle back to the top about an inch over, and do another short seam, and another. The red arrows are pointing to the short seams, about an inch apart. You can see the loose thread where I moved from the bottom of one seam to the top of the next. (That will be cut later.)
After doing the short seams all the way across the patch, remove from the sewing machine and
cut the dangling threads so they won't catch in the needle as you do the rest of the long seams.
Do at least four long seams, one at each edge and one on either side of the tear. When you finish all the seams, you will have a nice grid or criss-cross pattern across the patch that will hold it securely in place.
Trim the ends, wash and dry, and trim the threads that come loose from the patch.
After just one or two washings, you'll have a cool-looking patch on your jeans!
What Do You Do With Torn Jeans?
Another Pair of Patched Jeans
Here's a rear-end patch that my daughter loved!
The sewn-on patch before washing:
The washed and dried patch:
Many thanks for
SquidAngel blessings from
Thanks to tagsforkids for his angelic SquidArt.
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