TODAY I'M MENDING...

...my future daughter-in-law's favorite jeans.  You know what I'm talking about, the soft, "worn in" (though slightly "worn out") pair of jeans that your hand reaches for almost on auto pilot!  G had asked me to mend these jeans months and months ago...but my quick fix just wasn't enough.  The rip continued to spread until it had grown larger than the previous patch!  I needed to be much more aggressive this time!  Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of the process. 

I removed the outer patch, while leaving the inside patch where it was.  I cut a larger square of denim (from her son's old jeans) and sewed it around the edges to hold it in place.  Then I used Fray Check to keep the edges intact.  Once that was dry I used a zig-zag stitch all the way around the edge.  The patch was firmly adhered to the jeans on unshredded fabric and reinforced by the denim patch inside.  However, the shredded area in the middle was still not secured, and was likely to grow as it had previously.  What to do?

I searched my sewing machine stitches for something that seemed like it would "cover a lot of area" with each pass.  I have absolutely NO idea what this stitch is actually used for!  I reduced the size so that the stitches would be close together (I've blown up the photo of my practice fabric so you can see the stitch).  I filled the entire center of the denim patch, one row at a time, slightly overlapping the previous row.  When the inside of the denim patch was covered, the fabric had taken on a firmer texture, like the patches that were so popular in the 60's and early 70's.  I still remember my denim jacket, covered in patches, fondly.  Gosh I wish I had saved that jacket.  Sigh...

But I digress.  Since G loves pink Real Tree camo, I cut a piece of camo to the approximate size of the "darned" area.  I used Wonder Under to make the camo fabric fusible.  Then, using an iron, I adhered the camo rectangle to the denim patch.  I then fray-checked the edges of the camo fabric and sewed a line of stitches approximately 1/4" in from the edge. 

I'm hoping against all hope that this patch holds.  The fabric in that area is SO thin and frayed!  If this doesn't work, I'm afraid her jeans will be goners :o(

Toodles...