Another *hip* mending project....

If I could have a buck for every patch I've sewn on a pair of jeans, I think I'd have a million dollars by now! And if I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars), I'd buy you a house (I'd buy you a house)......
Well, a while back, one of my sons, S., asked me to mend his jeans with a bandana and it's time once again for another BA mending job.  Here are J's jeans which are in great need of a patch.  To keep it cool and hip, I'll leave the ragged fray and patch it underneath the hole with a blue bandana so it just peeks out.  I've made a photo tutorial to show you how I did it.

I started with a plain bandanna.  I pressed it first and then ironed on some heavy duty interfacing to give the patch some umphf so it will hold up to sewing and the rigors of a 17 year old.

Next I opened up the seam on the side of the leg with a seam ripper.  Make sure you open the seam that is NOT topstitched.  There will be two layers of stitching here.  Open an area large enough to accommodate the patch and give yourself some space to move around.

You want to smooth out the jeans and then pin on the patch so the right side of the bandanna is facing the wrong side of the jeans.  We want the bandanna show through the hole.  I like a large patch that gives some heft to what's left of thin, worn jeans, and I like my patch to go a little past the open seam so I can catch it in when I close up the leg seam.

I pinned the patch on the wrong side, but I'm going to add a few pins on the topside to hold it in place.

Sew the patch down from the topside of the jeans so you can hide your stitching as much as possible in the other seam edge and etc.  You really need to be careful not to catch in the backside of the leg as you sew.  Adjust, adjust as you sew along. Speaking of adjust, I noticed that my stitches were much larger than they should have been and upon further examination of my sewing machine, I saw that my tension knob was WAY off.  Hmmmm...I recall a lil Hazel Peach was here the other day.  She likes to press buttons and turn knobs.

I've sewn around the three sides and left the open side seam alone.  That will get sewn down when we close up the leg, but before we close the leg up, I want to sew around the hole a little bit.  I'll sew a little way from the hole so the denim can flop open a little to expose the bandanna underneath. More coolness.

Now it's time to turn the leg inside out and sew it shut.  Make sure the patch is smoothed out and that you will be catching it in with the jeans' side seam.  I straight stitch the inner seam and then zig-zag the outer edge. 

Ta Da!  One more hip mending job complete -- frays in tact!
 Now.... if I had a million dollars!