Patches for Pants

Check out my mad pants patching skilz! On occasion I can pull out a domestic feat. 

I’m not a very domestic stay at home mom. I don’t even own a sewing machine. If I owned one, I wouldn’t know what to do with it or where to put it. Now I’ve sewn a few things before in my day, but it was a long time ago and I had my Mom or some other crafty woman to fix it if I messed up. If I sat down in front of a sewing machine today, I wouldn’t even know how to thread it. Despite my lack of a sewing machine, and domestic know how for that matter, I managed to patch holes in eight pairs of jeans – six pairs for Steve and two for Josh.

Moanna and I ventured to the sewing and craft store, a place that I have little business being in. At first, I was going to get premade patches. You know the kind that you just slap on, rub an iron across it and call it a day? Well those patches were hideous. I knew the boys wouldn’t stand for an ugly jean like patch on their to cool for school jeans, and they would have a major hissy fit if I put tweed or corduroy on their jeans.

Just when I felt the sense of domestic defeat wash over me for about the one millionth time sin the past nine months, I spotted it. My long lost friend. Something that every home needs, especially if said home is lacking a sewing machine. Stitch Witchery. I’ve used Stitch Witchery on more than one occasion in the past to repair dance costumes, hem a skirts and create funky shirts for college and high school events. How could I have totally forgotten about Stitch Witchery, especially at a time like this.

I grabbed the biggest, fattest, strongest roll of Stitch Witchery and told Moanna we were headed to the wall of fabric where all of the fabric quarters are. I spent an eternity pondering over funky fabrics. I live with picky fellows who are very passionate about their fashion. I knew that if I didn’t pick the right fabric, I would be dead to them. Half an hour after I approached the fall of fabric, I had four different fabrics that I thought were quite awesome and would meet their approval.

Stitch Witchery, four fabric quarters and a new pair of craft scissors, Moanna and I were ready to check out, and only after entering the store an hour and fifteen minutes earlier. I wish I could go to a sewing and craft store and it only take a few minutes. I’ve never spent less than half an hour in one of these establishments.

Thankfully the guys approved of the fabrics, and were quite excited about them. Well, there was one fabric they weren’t thrilled with, so it got assigned to the “work jeans.” I let the guys pick which fabrics they wanted to go with which jeans. I was not about to take on that responsibility. That would be too precocious for the situation. It took them forever to make a commitment about which fabrics should go with which jeans, but finally the decisions were made and locked it. I said a little prayer and got to work.

I started with the “work jeans” so that if I screwed up, it wouldn’t be total devastation. I figured I would learn on the pants that no one really cared about, and hopefully by  the time I got to the jeans that were important, I would know what I was doing. Hopefully.

This is the third pair of jeans I did…

Classic holey knees.

Here are my supplies: holey jeans (duh), iron, ironing board, Stitch Witchery, funky fabric, damp cloth and scissors.

First – turn the jeans inside out

Second – measure and cut the patch fabric to cover the hole plus an inch (give or take) on all sides for the Stitch Witchery to adhere to. The location of the hole may require your boarder to be smaller. I did the inside of a pocket and had maybe a quarter of an inch on some sides. I also did a few patches where I had several inches above and below the hole to reinforce the fabric because it was about to give out.

Third – measure and cut the Stitch Witchery to fit around the hole and fit the patch fabric. This step is a little like a puzzle. It may take a few tries to get the Stitch Witchery to fit the hole and the patch fabric.

Forth – Once everything fits, layer the materials. Inside-out jeans are on the bottom, Stitch Witchery is in the middle and the patch fabric (pretty side face down) is on top. Cover with a damp cloth and press for 10 seconds with a hot iron set on wool and steam. If the patch is large pick up the iron and move it to the next area of the patch. Don’t rub the iron.

Fifth – Test the patch to make sure it has fully adhered to the jeans. If not, press it again for 10 seconds. After the patch has cooled, trim off any excess fabric. You won’t want any fraying or loose fabric for someone to catch a toe on and rip.

Sixth – Turn the jeans right-side-out and tada! Pretty easy huh? (I also put a patch where the developing whole is on the other knee in hopes of preventing further damage.)

I don’t brag often about my domestic achievements, but I think I did a stellar job on this here little project. It took me less than two hours (I’m slow and OCD about things) to do eight pairs of jeans. I spent less than $20 on supplies (including the scissors), easily saving $500.00 in the cost of new pants. And, AND, the guys love their jeans. They think they are super cool, bad a$$, hot, awesome, sweet, bangin’… you get the idea.

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