Denim Mending for Beginners
Hey guys, Cheri (Tinkerellen) here from Instagram world. Have you ever been jean shopping? Of course you have. And the success of finding the perfect fitting pair of jeans is like discovering a shimmery unicorn that makes you coffee every morning.
In other words, it’s rare, and you don’t want to try to recreate that magic every time the unicorn pair gets a hole. Solution? Learn to mend your jeans. Sound daunting, overwhelming, impossible? I assure you it is none of those things. In fact, it’s quite the opposite and I’ll tell you the truth, I get a little fuzzy feeling inside every time a new kneehole wears through my favorite pair of jeans. And going on several years with the same well-loved pair, I feel like mending them is spending time with a close friend.
Now that you’re excited about never have to jean shop again, what do we need to get started? First, I use a couple of Leather Thimbles, sashiko thread, Sashiko Needles, denim patches from old jeans that gladly sacrificed themselves, a small pair of scissors, and the Stitch Dome from Clover. I use sashiko thread because it’s a very strong cotton and holds up longer than other purl cotton threads I have used in the past. You can find this at your local quilt shop or from various retailers online. Color options are limited but I prefer white to really show my work and add interest and individuality to my repairs.
To get started, take your Stitch Dome and hold your denim patch (you can use other fabrics as well but I find especially for the knees, other fabrics wear through faster) over the dome and slip underneath your hole making sure the patch is larger than the hole. Secure the patch inside the hole using the yellow band. The Stitch Dome really helps to make this a faster process because you don’t have to baste or pin the patch inside and you don’t lose time rotating your hands under the mending to make sure you don’t go through to the other side of the leg. Trust me, I’ve spent hours denim mending and this baby is a time saver.
Once you have this secured, trim your hole threads clean, like so. You may have to enlarge the hole slightly.
Thread your needle and start from about an inch outside of the patch, leaving a thread length of maybe another inch or two. At the end of your mending, these threads will be pulled inside the leg and knotted out of sight. (Quick tip: I use a Coin Thimble on my thumb and a Natural Fit Leather Thimble on my middle finger since sometimes stitching through heavier layers of materials can demand a little strength.) Now start making small stitches all around the hole, making sure to grab both the patch and the jeans on each stitch. The dome will keep your needle from grabbing anything else and will make turning your jeans this way and that much more convenient.
Continue around the entire hole, moving the dome when needed and leaving some thread length at each entrance and exit to secure later. I like to continue with decorative stitching in the entire area of the patch to make the mend more reliable over time. Those stitches really make the jeans more durable, but after a while, you may want to redo your mending if the thread has worn. One pair of jeans can go through several mends over the years but will last for as long as you want to keep caring for them. I buy most of my clothing second-hand but with superpower mending skills, a bit of wear and tear won’t deter me from purchasing a gorgeous piece of clothing that I know is well made.
I like to keep things more fun and colorful when mending my daughter’s clothes (here I used various Liberty of London fabrics in front of a denim patch because cotton lawn is so thin), and a little more subdued for my own clothes, but everything you mend will be your own individual style. You can customize your wardrobe even if you can’t sew garments! But beware, once you start, you can’t stop, and you might even start adding patches to perfectly new jeans. In fact, these matching mommy and me overalls showed up with premade air pockets and were immediately tossed in the mend pile to come out the other side as one-of-a-kind garments. Mending is a conscious and sustainable way to be creative and I hope you’ll use this simple method to give your favorite clothing another lease on life. Follow me on Instagram at tinkerellen for more mending inspiration, embroidery design, and general crafting posts.
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