Mending Jeans????? need help :)

[poppycat]

My daughter has two pair of jeans that have ripped at the corners of the back pockets. The unfortunate result is that you can see her panties like a pair of snake eyes.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to mend or patch?

My sewing skills are pretty limited (actually they suck) but I do have a sewing machine that I know how to use, as well as a couple pair of jeans that are so destroyed that I feel ok using them for parts.

Any tips would be very much appreciated!

 

[enjoy the ride]

I would make a patch from the inside- take a small piece of jean material, fold over the edges, then whip stitch the patch so the folded edges are inside right on the jeans- where those tears are should be easy to do- just use close stitches and a reasonable weight thread as obviously that part is under some stress-

I forgot- you'll need to catch the ravelled edges of the holes to your patch to keep them from unraveling in the wash.

Forgot again- they do make an iron jean patch that you can get at a fabric store but those really don't hold well in places that are stressed.

OK again- due to the thickness of the pocket, I think you'll need to hand stitch it as it would be awkward to get the needle from a machine through basically 4 layers of jean material.

 

[patandchickens]

If the material is worn, or was thin to begin with (that stuff they make most jeans from today sure ain't *real* denim!), you will have trouble. You can still *try* of course.

First, make sure you patch them after they have been well worn i.e. BEFORE not after putting them in the laundry. Otherwise when they want to stretch back out being worn they will pull excessively at the patch.

Your best bet would be to put a 'decorative' patch on the outside, be it a square (etc) of matching or contrasting fabric or a store-boughten applique or whatever. If you can do this, I'd apply one of those iron-on patches from the inside, first, making sure it is well ironed on to well stretched-out material; then hand sew the patch on the outside, so that you are sewing thru the iron-on patch as well as the jeans themselves. THis will last the longest.

If you cannot bring yourself to put any sort of a patch on the outside, I would put on an iron-on patch on the inside. You could alternatively hand-sew a 'regular' patch onto the inside, but the problem is that all the strain will be taken by the small area where your stitching is, and my experience is that if the jeans ripped in the first place they are not strong enough to hold a patch very well, you know? Where the patch is hidden behind the pocket you can actually sew all over the patch area, just into the inner layer of the pocket (i.e. be careful you're not sewing the pocket closed!) to spread the strain; but this would look weird if done on the exposed part of the jeans.

Depending on the nature of the rip, a third possibility might be to unpick the bottom half of both pockets, insert a decorative patch that is larger than the area to be patched, sew the decorative patch to the jeans and then sew the pocket back onto that. So that it would look like there was a decorative patch part-sandwiched between the pocket and the jeans themselves. I'd suggest using a thin (tho durable) material for the decorative patch so's not to run into bulkiness problems.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[poppycat]

Depending on the nature of the rip, a third possibility might be to unpick the bottom half of both pockets, insert a decorative patch that is larger than the area to be patched, sew the decorative patch to the jeans and then sew the pocket back onto that. So that it would look like there was a decorative patch part-sandwiched between the pocket and the jeans themselves. I'd suggest using a thin (tho durable) material for the decorative patch so's not to run into bulkiness problems.


Pat

I think I will try this approach, on further inspection, the fabric is more worn out than ripped. We'll see how it looks. The good thing is that I can't really ruin them. They're already unwearable-to-school, so if it doesn't turn out I haven't lost a thing!

 

[patandchickens]

If it is worn out, I would back it up with an iron-on patch on the inside. Otherwise the material is just not strong enough to hold a patch, you know?

Good luck,

Pat

 

[poppycat]

If it is worn out, I would back it up with an iron-on patch on the inside. Otherwise the material is just not strong enough to hold a patch, you know?

Good luck,

Pat

Makes sense. I'll have to rummage around in my fabric-type stuff and see what I can come up with.