It's What I've Been Working on Wednesday!

After making stockings for my son, my husband, and I, I realized someone was missing.... our dog Spots! I made her a stocking too. When I showed it to her, she instantly got the zoomies (if you have ever had a dog or cat, you have probably witnessed the zoomies at one time or another). It almost seemed like she was excited about the stocking, and we laughed so hard :). No point to this story... it was just funny.


Monster knee patch? Pure genius. Not my idea, but I love it! I found it on Pinterest. Have you been on Pinerest?! It is addictive! It is a virtual bulletin board, to "pin" all those fun ideas you run across online. Anyhow, I found this idea here, and just happened to find a pair of my son's jeans with a hole in the knee, so there you go. The thing I did differently than the original tutorial, is that I seam ripped the side of the leg, so I could do the sewing with my machine. I figure the patch will survive more washings this way, and it only takes a few seconds with the seam ripper... much faster than hand sewing.

before & after:



If you have an older child, and this is too cute for them I posted a tutorial a while back on how to repair a hole with the "destroyed" look, here.


What have you been working on?

Tutorial Tuesday - patching ripped jeans

I got a new sewing machine, a Baby Lock BL9, and I am trying out some of the cool features on it that I don't have on my antique Singer. I love, and will always keep my Singer, but this Baby Lock is fun to play with!

One of the features is zig zag & fun stitches, like these:


Now, i'm sure that this has been done before, one version of it or another, and i've probably seen it on a craft website before. I would love to give credit, but can't remember, so please let me know if you've blogged something like this & i'll link to you.

Ok, this is dedicated to all the moms out there with 5 year old boys & up! Jack's Jeans' knees were pristine, until he hit 5, and now he gets a hole in the knee every other week. Sometimes being green is just taking care of, and fixing, what you already have, so it lasts longer. Even after my son outgrows these, they are more likely to be worn again because they are "fixed", rather than be thrown away because they have a hole.

Ready? You will need a hole in the knee, and a scrap of soft felted wool or cashmere (what I used) that is a little bigger than the hole.


Now, seam rip an opening on the outside seam of your jeans big enough for you to comfortably sew.


Place your scrap on the inside of the jeans, and zig zag or funky stitch (I don't know the name of it, but I used the bottom "D" stitch, pictured above) all over the hole, holding the hole closed as best as you can. Now, turn the jeans inside out & sew up the seam you seam ripped, and you are done! Now you have the "destroyed" look that clothing stores charge more for! You can actually cut the jeans and do this all over, if you want that trendy look. I think it looks cute!

I like how this pair came out (please ignore the grass stains... i'll get those out later today)...

... and it went well with the overall "destroyed" look of those particular jeans...


On these, I wish I would have used a closer matching color, because the hole in this knee was bigger than the other pair, so the cashmere peeked through a little. I also could have used slightly darker thread to make it look better (I used light gray).


Overall, a quick, easy, and useful project! Jack's knees will stay warm this winter ;)