Fast, No-Sew Patches
So if your kids are anything like mine they literally wear their clothes out, but most specifically jeans. We buy them a pair of jeans and they have holes in them within 2 weeks. I finally gave up and said no more. Seriously if they are going to destroy them after a couple of times wearing them then why should I buy new ones for them to ruin? So I set aside 1-2 pairs of NICE jeans that they are only allowed to wear if we are going somewhere semi-nice. But after a couple of skinned knees through the holes on their pants I knew I had to do something about it. I had seen the iron on patches, but they were kind of pricey and reviews I had read said they also needed to be sewn on because they would fall off, but I was smart and tested my sewing machine first to see if I could even get the leg of the jeans around the platform on my sewing machine. It was a no go so I knew I had to figure something else out.
I love to sew and I had made the boys some shirts last year that had appliques on them for their birthday that used an iron on patch type applique.
This is Mater in his applique shirt. I did sew them on as well, but not because I had to, I just liked the look of the stitching. I knew that the applique stuff I used held up well for light fabrics like jersey and cotton because they have been worn and washed many many times over the last year. So I figured why not try doing an applique over the holes in the jeans.
The stuff that I HIGHLY recommend for appliques in general and what I use is called Steam-A-Seam it's a double stick fusible webbing that is kind of like an iron on patch, but MUCH cheaper. You can get a package of 5 sheets which will patch about 20 pairs of jeans at Joann's for about $2 with a coupon.
Anyways enough prattling on, here is how I fix the boys' jeans with NO SEWING and it only takes me about 3-5minutes.
Here are the supplies
Steam-A-Seam (the lite was all I had on hand but it does a GREAT job)
Holey Jeans
(make sure they are washed and dried so that the fabric will lay flat and there is nothing on them to keep the patches from sticking)
Iron
Ironing board
(not pictured)
Scrap Denim
(I cut up a pair of my jeans that were unsalvageable, but you could also buy some denim at the fabric/craft store)
Take a strip of Steam-A-Seam and peel off one side of the paper, the side you want to hang on to will have a tacky clear web to it. Stick it to the front, or the pretty side of your denim. I realized after I took this picture I had stuck it to the wrong side and had to peel it off to stick it to the other side. I recommend cutting the patches at LEAST 3.5" wide and at least 2.5" tall, they need to be able to have at least a half inch on any side of the hole in the pants so adjust your "patch" accordingly. I used the webbing and denim scrap in this picture for four patches.
Flip your jeans inside out, I chose to patch both knees because although only one side had a hole the other side was REALLY thin and I figured a pre-emptive strike couldn't hurt.
Peel off the remaining paper and place the denim patch with the Steam-A-Steam facing down. In other words imagine it is like double sided tape and you want the tape to hold the two fabrics together. You want the front side or pretty side of the fabric facing down so that if you see the patch through the hole then you will see the front of the denim and not the back of it. If there is an actual hole and not just thin fabric put the wax paper between the two sides of the jeans so that they don't get stuck together.
Pre-heat your iron to the COTTON setting, do not use cooler temperatures as the web will not stick as well and hotter temperatures may scorch your jeans. If your iron has a built in steam function turn it off, you DO NOT want steam for this.
When your iron is at the correct temperature push down on the patches with the iron, make sure to push down pretty hard and move the iron slowly so that the patch doesn't slide and the Steam-A-Steam has time to fuse the fabrics. After ironing the patch let it cool for a moment and then test the edges by brushing a finger over them to make sure that they are all adhered, if they are not then go over them with the iron some more. When the sides are all well adhered flip the jeans inside out and you are done!!!
The patches wash well and hold up REALLY well against playtime as well, the initial test pair I did has been washed and worn at least 20 times and the patches are holding tight and have not developed any new holes.
This is an up close of the hole in the jeans with the new patch.
Here is what they look like from far away. The boys may still look like ragamuffins with holes in their jeans, but they are not bleeding our wallets dry and they are not getting skinned knees. I still keep a couple pairs of special jeans that are NOT for playtime so that they can still look decent when they need to, but I can let them get down and dirty like little boys should do without me worrying that they will ruin another pair of pants or skin their knees.
No comments:
Post a Comment