The Sewing Place

Patching jeans ... yet again!

Iminei

Patching jeans ... yet again!
« on: May 16, 2021, 12:25:29 PM »
The other day (yet again) I fell over and to my dismay opened a small hole in the leg of my new (to me £6 in the charity) black jeans.

Now I know I have successfully patched jeans before but these seem to be a whole different animal.

It seems most jeans today have an inordinate amount of stretch to them ... unlike my last patched jeans, which being pretty old actually resembled denim ...

So I need to ask .. What / How / With what should I patch them ??

I have no material the same as the jeans and need to make it sort of invisible but was thinking about using black lame and patching a star that would catch the light just a lil ????

Also if I unpick the side seam as I did before, which stitch should I use to sew it up with ... being this silly stretch fabric?

Over to you Boffins!!!
« Last Edit: May 16, 2021, 12:57:16 PM by Iminei »
The Imperfect Perfectionist sews again

Silver Rose

Re: Patching jeans ... yet again!
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2021, 12:31:50 PM »
I would put a pretty patch, cos you can ;) and use a stretch stitch and a needle for stretch fabrics or ordinary stitch and needle if it is not too stretchy, I do. No more falling over young lady!
Still learning

Lemon Syllabub

Re: Patching jeans ... yet again!
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2021, 14:46:04 PM »
The other day (yet again) I fell over and to my dismay opened a small hole in the leg of my new (to me £6 in the charity) black jeans.


Ouch! Hope you're OK.

The last time I tried to patch a pair of jeans they looked worse than when I started. :rolleyes:

You could just be a fashionista and go with the whole distressed jean look?

sewmuchmore

Re: Patching jeans ... yet again!
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2021, 17:26:57 PM »
Does your machine have a darning stitch? You could open the side seam, apply some iron on interfacing on the wrong side and then darn it.
It's not easy being this perfekt

Janet

Iminei

Re: Patching jeans ... yet again!
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2021, 17:34:16 PM »
@sewmuchmore  and @Lemon Syllabub  ... not an option.

I need these to look tidy and anyway I loathe the peeps who buy 'ready distressed' jeans ... In my days (early 80's) the holes were earned!!!

I'm worried about the fabric I use for the patch compared to the jeans ...and the stitching of course.

C'mon here, someone must have an idea or two ?
The Imperfect Perfectionist sews again

BrendaP

Re: Patching jeans ... yet again!
« Reply #5 on: May 16, 2021, 17:41:56 PM »
Commercially made jeans, or anything else with even a modicom of stretch are likely to have been sewn with a chain stitch.  If you don't have a machine which can do that the lightening bolt stitch is probably the best for sewing tough stretch fabrics, a very narrow zig-zag, regular length, for lighter fabrics.

Does the fabric stretch in both directions or just widthways (around the body/leg)?  Whichever it is you will be best to try and match the stretch of the patch.

Look closely at both leg seams before opening up - if both seams are felled they will be a  @^%$*@  to sew up again.  Can be done but tricky.  If one seam is just sewn and overlocked open that one, then when you sew it up again use a zig-zag over where the overlocking was.
Brenda.  My machines are: Corona, a 1953 Singer 201K-3, Caroline, a 1940 Singer 201K-3, Thirza, 1949 Singer 221K, Azilia, 1957 Singer 201K-MK2 and Vera, a Husqvarna 350 SewEasy about 20 years old. Also Bernina 1150 overlocker and Elna 444 Coverstitcher.
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.

BrendaP

Re: Patching jeans ... yet again!
« Reply #6 on: May 16, 2021, 17:43:26 PM »
I'm worried about the fabric I use for the patch compared to the jeans ...and the stitching of course.

Go back to the cherity shop and buy yourself another new pair of jeans but keep the damaged pair for future patches.
Brenda.  My machines are: Corona, a 1953 Singer 201K-3, Caroline, a 1940 Singer 201K-3, Thirza, 1949 Singer 221K, Azilia, 1957 Singer 201K-MK2 and Vera, a Husqvarna 350 SewEasy about 20 years old. Also Bernina 1150 overlocker and Elna 444 Coverstitcher.
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.

sewmuchmore

Re: Patching jeans ... yet again!
« Reply #7 on: May 16, 2021, 17:46:38 PM »
Even if you don't have a darning stitch you can still darn invisibly, have a look  here and here for examples.
It's not easy being this perfekt

Janet

Iminei

Re: Patching jeans ... yet again!
« Reply #8 on: May 16, 2021, 18:20:49 PM »
@BrendaP  If you knew how may jeans I had to try on to find these !!!!
The Imperfect Perfectionist sews again

Sandra

Re: Patching jeans ... yet again!
« Reply #9 on: May 16, 2021, 18:35:00 PM »
I'd probably do something like the link shown in sewmuchmore's post.  :thumbsup:

I back the damage with cotton fabric...a similar weight to p&q fabric. Just ordinary woven cotton fabric. I'd only try to match the denim if there's a chunk of the fabric missing and you need to fill the hole up, otherwise it'll make the repair a bit thick.

As Brenda says, open up the leg seam so you can lay the damaged area flat. I'm assuming this is a tear on the knee? Only undo as much as you need to be able to work on the damaged area.
Yes, it's a @^%$@ to sew up again if you have felled seams on inner and outer leg but most jeans don't have that problem. Fingers crossed.
Tack your patch to the reverse of the hole. If you need to, straighten up and tack the ragged edges of the hole down onto the patch.
Then machine, up and down over the damage, covering about half inch maybe, beyond the actual rip. I don't use an especially small stitch...2 or 3 on my machine, and I don't stitch the lines too close together...there's no need. It'll just make the repair more stiff and inflexible.
Sometimes I go both vertical and horizontal with the stitching but it isn't always needed. It depends on the damage.
If you're done, remove the tacking and give it a little steam press.

Blimey!! Too many words.
I've no idea if this makes any sense. I can show people much easier than write it down.
I did a couple of darn repairs on some jeans a couple of weeks ago. They have, of course, been collected now so I can't take a quick picture to show you.

Don't worry about stitch type. I never have.  ;)
I've only ever used a straight stitch for this type of work.
Just sew your leg seam back up and zig zag to replace the overlocking.

Sandra.
xxx

StitchinTime

Re: Patching jeans ... yet again!
« Reply #10 on: May 16, 2021, 18:45:07 PM »
Quote
Go back to the cherity shop and buy yourself another new pair of jeans but keep the damaged pair for future patches.

Or go back to the charity shop and buy a pair of jeans to cut up for patches  :)

Sandra

Re: Patching jeans ... yet again!
« Reply #11 on: May 16, 2021, 19:21:26 PM »
OK...this might make it easier to understand what I'm going on about.  :)
I've obviously used the light colours so you can see what I'm doing.

Raggy rip in jean.





Tack a piece of cotton fabric on the reverse of the tear.




I've left the edges as they are on this one but if it were really straggly and messy I'd probably put a few stitches in the frayed bits to hold them in place.
If you tack your frayed bits down, use a good colour match...it's difficult to unpick out of a darn.





And then stitch something like this. I've gone up and down on this with a single stitch across before turning. This particular fabric has a very obvious diagonal weave so I ought to have run in the direction of the diagonal but never mind...
Use a smaller stitch on your darn if it makes the repair look less obvious.



Depending on the position of the damage and the type of denim fabric, sometimes I'll do the up and down stitching, and sometimes I'll do a quick and dirty repair with the reverse stitch as shown on the right.





Darns can sometimes turn out surprisingly well.
Denim's a funny fabric to work on though but if you've got nothing to lose, give it a go.
It's not difficult to do this repair. You're more than capable.

Sandra.
xxx


Deafoldbat

Re: Patching jeans ... yet again!
« Reply #12 on: May 16, 2021, 19:38:35 PM »
@Iminei Knowing absolutely nothing about the subject.... here's my suggestion.

Does your machine have a free arm? Do you have a darning foot for it (aka free motion quilting foot)?

Slide the leg onto the free arm so you can reach the tear, and use the darning foot to stitch in any direction you want. I would tack a bit of fabric inside the leg first and possibly tack close to the tear too as @Sandra suggests.

If your machine hasn't a free arm, or you think I'm talking rubbish, feel free to ignore me

charley

Re: Patching jeans ... yet again!
« Reply #13 on: May 16, 2021, 20:30:53 PM »
I do a jeans repair the same as @Sandra. I now use a narrow zig zag on the side seam, instead of the stretch stitch (that takes forever). My older sister does not mind if it is a visible repair or not, so I have used some spare pieces with a small pattern of Sanderson/Morris cotton curtain fabric for these repairs. I have deleted the photos, but I liked the result.

Iminei

Re: Patching jeans ... yet again!
« Reply #14 on: May 17, 2021, 06:58:53 AM »
Ive obviously not explained quite as clearly as I should've ...
Im not going to darn the small hole as it would look messy and I need these jeans .... (that actually fit me for a change ... Tho I do have to wear a belt as once the fabric has moulded itself to my bod they then try and slide down .. What is this Fabric and WHY?) ... to look fairly smart so what I thought would look nice is a Black Lame patch, that would blend in with the black of the jeans but catch the light a lil.

The question was ... Can I patch these extremely stretchy jeans with Lame and what stitch should I use to accommodate the different fabrics ...

Please note .. the patch will not be on an area that is stretched  ... its on the front shin area not the knee and these jeans are not as tight/stretched as the really skinny ones that look like leggings, which appears to be the fashion these days.   :rolleyes:
The Imperfect Perfectionist sews again