it may not be able to 'Break the Internet' or hold a champagne glass, the one talent my butt does have is wearing out the back side of all my favorite jeans. We've all been there, about to slip into our favorite denim duds only to find a hole somewhere there should not be a hole...or four in my case (see photographic evidence below).
Let's face it, jeans get better with time, I'd even say right when denim starts to get holes is when it starts to really fit you best. So stop tossing out those jeans, they make your butt look so good!
Repairing your own denim is actually really simple. You do need a sewing machine and its worth borrowing a friends. Heck, use it as a reason to throw a get together and make a night of it. Everyone has a pair of jeans in need. It took me 30 minutes to repair two pairs of pants, with five holes between the two.
supplies
- jeans to repair
- scrap denim
- thread (in matching color)
- sewing machine
- pins (and needle for hand sewing)
- iron
- scissors
- seam ripper *not everyone will need this
You do not need to get interfacing and extra denim, one or the other will work fine but I have found that large holes are easier to fix with denim, more on that below. After cutting several pairs of thrifted pants into shorts this summer I was left with a big pile of denim legs and I find that I always have scraps of interfacing around. So when I realized I had more jeans to mend than to wear I was ready to go. I will show you how to fix your backsides both ways (with interfacing or denim) and you can decide what will work best for you and your beloved jeans.
- Flip your jeans inside out. Locate rips and holes.
- Cut out a patch of interfacing or denim about 2 cm larger than the hole in every direction. Cut one for each hole you will be fixing.
If the area you are patching still has fibers/strings holding it together or is smaller than 1/2 inch, you should be fine with interfacing. Any larger than that and I recommend using extra denim in the same color to patch it up - If you are using interfacing iron it into place. For the denim patch you will pin it in place.
- Flip pants right-side out, straighten any fabric or loose threads.
-At this point I realized that the holes on my blue jeans were REALLY close to the pockets. I wanted to be sure i got a secure fix and realized it would be better if i could stitch right where my pockets were. I didn't want to sew them shut I took my small scissors and did a little seam ripping to fold back the inside bottom corners of the pockets.
- With matching thread in the machine, sew over the hole in an up and down zig-zag formation just larger than the size of the hole.
- Continue back and forth zig-zagging until you have reached your desired coverage. Be careful not to over do it, you do not want it to be too stiff.
The last step some of you may need to do is to hand stitch the pockets back on. Be sure to use a strong needle and thread that match the seam of the pocket. Start closing the pocket about one inch above where you started seam ripping. Make sure your thread knots are on the inside of your pants, this way you get a secure seam on your pockets. Stitch all the way around following in the same place where the thread was before and continue an inch passed where you finished seam ripping and then tie off on the backside of your jeans.
Ta-da! Your jeans are all better.
Now here's some more advice, next time after wearing those jeans, dust them off and toss them in a freezer bag and then into the freezer. While it won't help if you spill something on your jeans, you may have to spot clean then, it's a great alternative in between washes to keep them from thinning and the color from fading (when you do wash your denim be sure to turn it inside out, this helps keep the color from fading as much). Try it, but don't put them in there right before you leave for a road trip, trust me, you will forget them in there for a week.
Remember, If you repair your denim I would LOVE to see your results!
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