Patching Jeans in Style

I love making things last as long as possible. Here's a pair of jeans which were past their prime. In other words, they had holes in them. Ripped jeans are not my style, so I went to work. 

First I patched them on the inside of the legs. Then I darned, thinking that would do the trick. But even with the inside patches to add some fabric to darn to, the darning didn't last. So...I cut out these brown and black patches which I had leftover from fabric quarters from when I was making masks several years ago. 

I cut out the patches and hemmed the edges of each patch, using the sewing machine. Then I sewed the patches on by hand, using a piece of cardboard inside the pants leg so I wouldn't sew the leg shut. 

This was a lot of work for something that is wearing thin in other places. But I did most of the work while talking on the phone or watching TV with hubby. So there wasn't much opportunity cost. 

Mini-quilt from Jeans

    

        

Do you enjoy re-using old things in a new way? I sure do. When a family member wanted a very small blanket, and we couldn't find any that small, I pulled out some old jeans. I also ordered some faux sherpa fleece through eBay. 

I decided on 24" X 20" for the mini-quilt, based on something I had re-used for a lap blanket in my car. 

I cut 30 squares, with each square being 5" across by 5" down, to make 6 rows by 5 rows. I used 1/2" seam allowances. I sewed the patches into rows and then sewed the rows together. 

The sherpa fleece tends to stretch a little, so I was careful getting it measured and cut to the 25" X 21" I would need for a backing. After cutting, I laid the denim on top of the fleece and trimmed the fleece a tadbit, as needed. 

I used clips to hold the two large pieces together, right sides together. I put the clips on the very edges, so I would have room to sew. I sewed around the three sides. I clipped the corners carefully, and then turned the blanket right side out. 

I then turned the edges of fourth side under toward the inside of the blanket and uses the clips to carefully attach it all the way across. I then sewed that side shut. After that, I sewed near the very edge all along the other three sides, so all four sides would like nice and flat. 

To finish, I sewed, on the jean side, down the set of rows where I had put all the squares together. I used blue thread and happily the blue didn't show on the beige fleece side, as it got "lost" in the fleece. I was quite happy with how it turned out.    

An Easy Clothing "Save"

I enjoyed this shirt a lot...even though, for some reason, I'm not smiling in the picture. I think I was embarking on a life change that I was feeling thoughtful about. 

But back to the shirt, alas, the elbows wore out. So, I cut off the sleeves, leaving just a little extra fabric beyond the seam. I folded that little bit of fabric under and used a whipstitch to sew it to the inside, making a neat finished edge. 

Now I wear the shirt - which now has cap sleeves - unbuttoned, over a dark blue sleeveless knit shirt, which helps with the sleeve openings being rather large, as well as allowing me to leave it unbuttoned, as a vest.  

It's a different look, maybe not as much on the "neat" side as the previous look; but I'm enjoying it this way too, maybe even a bit more (especially since it's summer now). 

I'm sharing this because it took so little sewing to reuse this shirt in a different way, instead of discarding it. Do you have anything you re-use in a slightly different way without too much work?  

Update in 2020: Since posting this blog post, I have lost weight; so I took in the side seams a little on this shirt, so I no longer wear it over a shirt, but buttoned down as a shirt by itself (giving it, effectively, a third life).