Since having kids I have learnt that kids definitely grow very quickly and need new clothes often, but also, that it is lucky they grow out of their clothes so fast as they wear them out so quickly! The toes of shoes are often holey while the rest of the shoe still looks new! Or the Velcro doesn't last. I have been known to replaced the Velcro on some. I just had to buy a pair of light up digger sandals from an op shop that needed the Velco replacing!!
As well as shoes wearing out, pants, or the knees of pants, wear out so quickly! All the climbing and playing! Bubby had a whole pile of pants with holes in the knees and a whole lot more that are wearing thin. (many were second hand clothes to begin with) So I have tried patching in all sorts of ways, which has been fun! I still have more ideas I want to try so am actually looking forward to the next pair getting a hole in them! His little brother will have to wear patched clothes all the time, hopefully I have actually made them more interesting and not peasanty!
These jeans were the first I patched. They were used as his outdoor crawling pants, so understandably wore out on the knee. I used some superhero fabric I had from some old boxer shorts and patched it behind as if Superman was bursting through. Idea from here.
I tried embroidery to cover up a hole starting out on some jeans. The other knee is already wearing so I also put a matching star on that side. I just hope it doesn't just weaken where I've stitched, but if so I get to try another technique!
I then tried a darning style woven patch. I could've used a more colourful, fun thread being kids clothes but I love how this green thread worked on these pants. It was very confusing to weave the right way, so took a lot of concentration. The other knee on these pants are also wearing thin so it will only be time before I need to patch the other side. Inspo from here. A great post on visible mending.
I then tried a Japanese Sashiko style mend, something I've always wanted to do. I had to distress it a little more so the actual hole was big enough to see more of the dark blue fabric behind. I love them!
I then tried an applique patch, which was super simple and effective! Tracing a star shape (some interesting or fun material would be cool next time- I was trying to match his PJ top that goes with these pants- yellow and grey), double sided interfacing ironed on and then zig-zag machine stitched all around the shape. Idea from here. I also like this reversed style patch.
These jeans were wearing thin at the knees with the a hole in the left knee (always seems to be the left knee!). I cut up some old daggy PJ's with dragons on them with the same easy method as the applique star. I couldn't fit the pants over the sewing machine arm, so turned and sewed it awkwardly but it worked out. They were quite daggy jeans anyway so was just a bit of fun.
The last mend in the pile was a jumper I had gotten with a second hand bundle of clothes. It was in good condition except it had been drawn on by a kid. The drawing looked kinda like a rocket so I decided to cover the texta marks with appliqued fabric of a rocket. Some texta mark on the back was turned into a shooting star. It turned out so great!! It's a little off centre and I was contemplating putting a star on the front to centre the image but it still looks awesome!
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Before with texta marks
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| After-front |
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After- back
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| Close-up |
