Much Ado About a Mend: The Sequel

Image Credit: Creative Commons, Worn Fashion Journal

So awhile back, I wrote this piece about a repair on a pair of jeans that I attempted.

It did not go well.

The original instructions I followed had me completely cut out the worn area of the jeans, attach the cut out areas to patches, do several lines of stitching across the patches, and then sew the patches back into the jeans.

The result was a messy nightmare that I ended up having to do several fixes on later. I still own the jeans, but I shudder whenever I look at those patches.

I recently had another pair of jeans wear out in the same place, but I think I figured it out this time.

The worn spot, right where the legs come together. Thankfully not very visible while you're wearing the jeans, but it's a really awkward spot to repair. 

Rather than completely cut the worn spot out of the jeans, I just turned the jeans inside out and sewed in a rectangular patch (some still-in-good-shape scrap denim gleaned from my worn out jean stash) slightly larger than the area I wanted to repair, using a whip stitch to hold everything in place.

I thought about folding the edges in to reduce fraying, but the patches were so small that I didn't. We'll see if I regret that later.

Sticking the needle through, then bringing it back around. 

Finished patches.

 I turned the jeans right side out again, took some thread and used a running stitch  back and forth over the weak area...

Until the whole thing was reinforced.

Then I trimmed the loose threads, and that was it!

Much easier to do and, I'm hoping, a little sturdier than my last mending job since it's simpler and doesn't involve actually cutting up the jeans.

Time will tell.