How to fix worn patches on jeans

Heya.

This time I have a neat little trick for you. I'm one of those people who is not able to let their jeans go. If I find a pair that fits me well, I will wear it until they literally fall off. Some time ago I saw this post by Knit Yourself Pretty and now I decided to share my way of prolonging the life time of jeans with the help of interfacing and sewing machine. So..let's do this!

First, take your jeans. If the tear is somewhere away from the seams, you can skip this step. But my tear was pretty close to the seam and I decided to unravel the topstitches and the seam. I didn't need to unravel the overlock stitch as I had enough room after taking apart the seam.

 After you've prepared your work area, you need to take a piece of interfacing. It should be slightly bigger than the ripped area. Mine came in a roll, but you can use regular piece, that you might have lying around from a previous project. Put it in place with your iron.

 After you've fused the first layer of interfacing in place, you'll want to put a second layer of it. For second layer I prefer to use strengthened interfacing strip. Or you can use regular one with tiny stitches in it. It's the same as I have but as a fabric, instead of a strip.Again, fuse it to the first layer. Make sure you have it wide enough to cover the hole/tear.

All ready for sewing

Another worn spot near the knee. 

 Now you are all set to go behind your sewing machine. You need thread that matches the colour of the fabric near the torn part(this way the repair disappears in the fabric). And now just stitch with straight stitches over the tear(I used the third length out of four which is about 3mm long stitch, you can use smaller stitch if you want to but it increases the chances of gathered fabric). Make sure that you follow the tiny creases of the fabric that run diagonally in the fabric. Any other direction will be too obvious after you're done. Just go back and forth-back and forth.

 I position my left hand like this to guide the fabric, and with my right hand I  press the backwards direction button. Be careful, I've sown into my fingers a couple of times and "hit" my finger with that stupid screw on the right. So be careful and pay attention to where your fingers are. And remember. Back and forth.

 Now iron or steam your work, even out the fabric.

 Redo your seams and topstitches and enjoy the result.

Closeup of the knee spot

Closeup of the big tear.

Put it on and no one can tell!

 This trick works for any colour of jeans. Just as long as you can get the thread to match.

And that's how it's done. Brilliant, isn't it?

What kind of tricks and tips do you have for repairing jeans? Did you find it helpful? Let me know :)


And as a bonus. A few pics of the red jeans. Unfortunately someone's fingers were on most of the shots so I only have two decent(ish) to share. (Damn it, I have tiny hands, apparently not tiny enough*sigh*)

I was in quite a bit of a hurry, so I didn't have time to draft the pattern myself and I used Burdastyle 3-2013 Boy's Trousers(#152) pattern. The hip and thigh area is a bit wide and the calf is a bit tight compared to the rest of the jeans. I know it's meant to be slim fit, but considering that the kid is 128cm tall, the pattern was for 134cm kid and this kid is fit and skinny, then..Don't know what kind of kid did they make the pattern for. A stick figure maybe? But knowing how kids grow, he'll grow out of these in no time. But to be sure, I added about 5cm of allowance in the hem so that it's possible to make the jeans a bit longer.

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Sorry for the mammoth post

Fooniks

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