Have you ever pulled out your favorite pair of jeans and realized there is a hole in the thigh of your pants? I have. It’s the worst, but don’t worry, you don’t have to throw out your precious jeans. You can patch them up! With some practice and the right color of thread, you can patch a pair of jeans and it will be almost imperceptible.
Materials
Your ripped jeans
matching thread, if you can’t find an exact match, choose the slightly lighter option, it’s typically less visible
Fabric for a patch (you can use just a closely matching piece of fabric or you can buy an iron on patch in the correct denim color, that’s what I prefer to use since it will stay in place while you sew over it)
darning foot (optional)
Patching your Pants
Start out by cutting out your patch. Make sure this closely matches the pants you are sewing up, You want the patch to be at least 1/2″ larger than the tear in your pants. Place the patch over the hole and iron or pin it into place (or both, which is what I did)
Next you will be sewing over the patch. Start with your vertical stitches, going up and down (I used a darning foot, but you can use your all purpose foot and just reverse) follow the vertical grain in your jeans, it will improve the look of the pants. Make sure to go about 1/4″ past the worn part of the fabric, you want to make sure your thread is anchored to sturdy fabric, otherwise a new hole will just form right next to the patch.
Now, sew with the horizontal grain of the fabric. To do this, turn your pants 90 degrees and go up and down your patch again. Make sure you go about 1/4″ past the worn part of the fabric.
Your last step is to cut all thread and cut away any excess spots in your patch. You still want a small margin of fabric around your stitches, about 1/4″ or so. If you used an iron on patch, only cut the patch if it isn’t sticking to your pants.
You’re all done! Now you can patch a pair of jeans like a pro. Even though my thread isn’t the closest match (I just used what I had) it still isn’t particularly noticeable, especially when I’m wearing them due to the placement of the hole.
