Patching Clothes -

With 5 boys- you have to learn to do some patch work! But would you believe, that it's really my little girl who requires the most patch work?!

A few years ago, she would cry at the mere mention of pants, but now she's finally learned to wear them to bed. But boy does she WEAR them! She tears the seats out, the knees, and somehow gets strange holes in them too. 

She has a fondness for these with Tweety Bird on them...and I used to. 

You see, they used to be mine, until she decided that she could wear pajama pants and got nearly as big as me ;-), then she decided she also wanted my PJs! 

So- I keep patching them up now that she's decided to keep wearing them out!

I hope she decides to do something else soon ;-)

1st- one of those strange holes a fore mentioned- You can see I can't just pull it together and sew because it's a complete hole. (Where the missing innards went is beyond me.)

 2nd- I pinned a small scrap of soft denim on the inside. A stiff fabric can poke them especially if you leave corners.

 3rd- From the outside, zigzag around the hole on the very edge of the torn fabric, clipping any fraying threads beforehand and being careful to cover all loose ones up with stitches.

4th- From the inside, remove pins. (You don't wanna forget those!) Then clip close to the stitches. See the top of the denim in a point? You want to round that off. 

A note: I have cut denim patches out in heart shapes and zigzagged them on the outside of some clothes before too. That's cute on daytime clothes.

Now, what do you do if they keep ripping the backside out and it's gone beyond just the main seam?!?!? Well, if it's doing that repeatedly, chances are, you got yourself a good dose of the thread-barren-fanny! 

The first time or two, you might can just stitch it up, but it will likely happen again....and again...and again.

So, for the sake of Tweety and frugality, I resort to plan B.

If the area is thread-bare, I gotta get some more "threads" in there so- I cut out a huge patch from some old clothes and I stitch that in the area to make it stronger. Simple as pie!

1st- I used dark thread in the bobbin so you could see how I used an old t-shirt and simply cut and sewed in a very large rectangle in the thread-barren-fanny.

 2nd- From the outside, do a zigzag around the rip or hole. This is from the inside.

 This is what it looks like finished, from the outside.

You can see the zigzag around the hole and part of the pink t-shirt, which is okay since these are PJ pants and this adds some kind of cuteness if you ask me.You know, that Little Orphan Annie look? ;-) 

You can also faintly see the straight stitch that holds the entire rectangular shaped t-shirt scrap in place. That stitch is barely noticeable on this Tweety print -but that piece of t-shirt gives these pj pants just the extra strength they need to make it a little while longer...without the draft! :-)

Which keeps dd happy and warm in her favorite Tweety pants.
*******************************
Be sure to sign up for the Blade Buddy Giveaway while you're here!
*********
This post is linked to
Homestead Revival
Skip To My Lou 
Tip Junkie's Tip Me Tuesday 
Raising Homemakers 
We Are That Family 
Domesblissity