Showing posts with label patches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label patches. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Tutorial Tuesday - patching ripped jeans

I got a new sewing machine, a Baby Lock BL9, and I am trying out some of the cool features on it that I don't have on my antique Singer. I love, and will always keep my Singer, but this Baby Lock is fun to play with!

One of the features is zig zag & fun stitches, like these:


Now, i'm sure that this has been done before, one version of it or another, and i've probably seen it on a craft website before. I would love to give credit, but can't remember, so please let me know if you've blogged something like this & i'll link to you.

Ok, this is dedicated to all the moms out there with 5 year old boys & up! Jack's Jeans' knees were pristine, until he hit 5, and now he gets a hole in the knee every other week. Sometimes being green is just taking care of, and fixing, what you already have, so it lasts longer. Even after my son outgrows these, they are more likely to be worn again because they are "fixed", rather than be thrown away because they have a hole.

Ready? You will need a hole in the knee, and a scrap of soft felted wool or cashmere (what I used) that is a little bigger than the hole.


Now, seam rip an opening on the outside seam of your jeans big enough for you to comfortably sew.


Place your scrap on the inside of the jeans, and zig zag or funky stitch (I don't know the name of it, but I used the bottom "D" stitch, pictured above) all over the hole, holding the hole closed as best as you can. Now, turn the jeans inside out & sew up the seam you seam ripped, and you are done! Now you have the "destroyed" look that clothing stores charge more for! You can actually cut the jeans and do this all over, if you want that trendy look. I think it looks cute!

I like how this pair came out (please ignore the grass stains... i'll get those out later today)...

... and it went well with the overall "destroyed" look of those particular jeans...


On these, I wish I would have used a closer matching color, because the hole in this knee was bigger than the other pair, so the cashmere peeked through a little. I also could have used slightly darker thread to make it look better (I used light gray).


Overall, a quick, easy, and useful project! Jack's knees will stay warm this winter ;)

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Tutorial Tuesday - Re-bags!


This is actually more of just a concept than a tutorial, since i'm sure you guys could figure out how to do this from looking at it ;) I have been loving all the heavy duty canvas shopping bag/ totes i've been running across at garage sales. I use them for everything... craft projects, swim stuff, shopping, sand toys, etc., and especially love the ones with a pocket on the outside for my water bottle. What I don't like is all the ugly logos that most of them have on them. Now I am just covering the logos up with recycled wool patches, and turning them into Re-bags! I used my sewing machine to sew the recycling symbol onto the patch, then hand stitched the patch onto the pocket of the bag. If you like the idea, but don't want to make the patches, Victoria Velting sells cute recycled wool patches in her Etsy shop.

Here's the bag I started with. I am not even sure what that was from, a gym maybe? Anywho... it needed some recycled wool!


Here's the patch I made, in progress...


...and here it is sewed on the pocket.



Much better, eh?