better patching; less cursing

While we are on the topic of patching the knees of jeans, I thought I'd go through my patching process.  I've tried several kinds of iron-on films because trying to sew patches on little tiny pants is a sure fire way to make even a person with the patience of Job in to an insane, screaming, cussing type.  Unfortunately the iron-on patches didn't stay as stuck as I'd like, there was always a *%^@# edge curling up here or there, which I tacked down with fabric glue, again and again.  Skipping the iron-on business and going straight for the fabric glue worked a bit better, but nothing beats sewing them.

Now I am having better success, and less cursing, by ripping the side seam open and sewing the patch onto the pant leg and then re-sewing the side seam.  Unstitching the side seam took me quite a while the first couple times and I almost gave up on this method too, but let me tell you what works for me...usually.

You want to unstitch the side of the leg that has the simple seam, not the one with the nice flat topstitching.  I also leave at least an inch or 2 intact above the hem and below the crotch or pocket.

Most of the seams in jeans that I've undone have a straight stitch and then the edges are serged.  I tackle the straight stitch first and have found that if you tug at the end of the thread every so often as you go along unpicking the stitches you'll find a point where you can just pull and the stitches just start undoing themselves.  If you can't get this to work, try unpicking and tugging from the other end or side of the pant leg.

Next go after the serging.  I rip threads until I can get my ripper positioned like this.

So the long side of the ripper is headed in between the rows of stitching created by the serging.  Then I rip along the stitches that are farther from the edge of the fabric and tug at the ones on the edge and it all starts coming apart...hopefully the photo helps make sense of those last couple of sentences.

Now you can turn the pants right side out, lay that leg open and more or less flat, and position the patch.  Notice I do all the details (topstitching, applique, painting etc.) on the patch BEFORE I pin it to the pants.  I don't make a finished or turned under edge on my patches.  I do put fray-check around the edges and expect to still trim off stray strings for the first couple of washings.

 Making sure that the pant leg is flattened out, you can sew around the patch much more easily and accurately than when the leg is a tight, obnoxious @#*^*$ little tube.

This time around I was using a zigzag stitch that puts the needle down a couple of times as it goes from side to side (stitch # 06 on the photo of my machine below) instead of the zigzag that simply goes from side to side (stitch #05).  I think it holds the patch down better and more smoothly.  I also used stitch #79 quite often for the same reason.  I intentionally used thread that matched the patch and so the stitching doesn't show up.

This is what the patch looks like from the inside of the pants.

Then it's just a matter of re-sewing up that side seam.  Some times there were really thin or worn out spots along that side seam before you unpicked it like in this picture below....

so I just sew a smidgen farther from the edge of the fabric and you have fresh fabric instead of a hole waiting to happen.  I don't have a serger.  I leave the side seam at a straight stitch and no one is the wiser. . . well except you now, my loyal reader.

There you have it.  And now in 20 years when your kids write the NY Times best selling memoir of their childhood, you'll be immortalized as the mother who lovingly patched all their ripped up knees with a smile and a hug, instead of the crazy lady who's vocabulary made the dad on A Christmas Story blush whenever she turned on her sewing machine to do the mending.