Etsy's Handmade Blog
Fix Up Your Ripped Jeans

Last weekend as I was making the roof of my apartment into a squirrel-proof fortress, I ripped the knees of my jeans.  After wearing the shredded dungarees around for the rest of the day, I decided I wasn't the type of guy who can rock the ripped denim.  The jeans fit me perfect and it seemed such a waste to let them go, so I decided to fix them up. After some research I came up with this solution to my ripped jean dilemma. 

 

MP4 | Subscribe in iTunes | Blip.tv | Youtube | HD

If you have a different way of reparing your jeans, leave a comment or even better, make a video about it, upload it to Youtube and post a link in the comments!

Do you like Etsy videos? Show your love and be the first ones to see them by becoming a youtube subscriber and setting up your iTunes to automagically download the latest videos.

Tags brepettis, denim, diy, howto, instructions, jeans, learning, repairing, sewing, video, zigzag
All articles in How-To
Related Items
This article was reported by:
brepettis

18 comments     Login to add your own!

May 21, 2008 at 5:53 p.m. kfarrell

I gotta send this to Haim, he's left a big ol' rip in his jeans on the premise that he "doesn't know how" to fix them.

May 21, 2008 at 6:31 p.m. TheBrassHussy

lol. I need to fix some kid jeans. I didn't realize my 8 yr old had ripped some of the corner pocket and got a nasty note from from the school.

I do cut up his ripped jeans and make girly purses for my nieces.

May 21, 2008 at 6:42 p.m. hobocampcrafts

awesome job! Like the red zigzag on the black jeans!

May 21, 2008 at 7:22 p.m. Slowshirts

those red zig-zags will match the fading red ink in your mighty fine camcorder t-shirt!

May 21, 2008 at 7:49 p.m. craftsfromtheheart

People pay big money for holey jeans. :) I would applique them myself.

May 21, 2008 at 8:08 p.m. theStarcraft

get an old pair of jeans you dont use anymore and use them as scrap for fixing jeans. cut out a rectangle as big as the hole and pin it over your denim. then using the same color, zig zag a stitch all the way around the patch. it will last as long as the jeans!! and its not an ugly sewn up mess. id love to add a pic of all my cute jeans, but they are packed away and im sporting the demi panel maternity threads for the summer!! cant wait to break out my perfect fit patched up knee jeans again. :)

May 21, 2008 at 8:47 p.m. anda

Since denim is made with white threads (woven with some shade of blue thread), I like to use white to mend jeans. I iron strips of interfacing or mending tape along the rip on the inside, then sew a big back-and-forth crosshatched pattern of white thread on the front side along the tear. I match the crosshatch stitching with the weave of the fabric, and it usually ends up looking simply like a gently worn area, instead of an overly mended hole.

May 21, 2008 at 11 p.m. DBrownDesigns

or make them cutoffs if the damage is lower on the leg, or not. :)

May 22, 2008 at 3:20 a.m. SupernovaDesigns

i really like the contrasting thread. it makes it look like you bought them that way at some hip boutique ^_^

May 22, 2008 at 5:22 a.m. skullduggery

At first i thought you were going to let a whole lot of the fabric show thorough....and I didn't like that idea. The finished product looked really nice! Simple, but really nice.

May 22, 2008 at 7:27 a.m. heatherlynchriza

Very Cool!!

May 22, 2008 at 10:12 a.m. colorada

I like this one! I like to use cool prints underneath for my stuff or something solid on a guys jeans. Tough places are holes where back pockets attach and where beltloops pull out. For those the interfacing underneath works...or use a tshirt knit for less bulk. Great article!

May 22, 2008 at 10:20 a.m. MarjorieDade

I have repaired numerous jean rips for my kids and their friends and they usually do not want the repair to be so noticable.
For a very sturdy repair that is less noticeable, use a piece of old jeans (the sacrificial pair...usually too small) from an unworn area, like pant bottom- ankle area. Thread should be a blue hue that is slightly lighter than the jean color (if repairing blue jeans) and the stitch is straight- not zigzag.
I start the repair by fusing an iron-on fusable web to the patch (like stitchwitchery), then pressing it in place on the inside of the torn area, taking care to position the remaining areas correctly. Press in place.
Turn right side out, and stitch around the torn areas to anchor them in place. I take care to catch all the torn and frayed ends of the rip to anchor them flat again- may take several passes.
Then begin sewing with a straight stitch along the grainline of the jeans, (usually lenghtwise--along the direction of the waistline to hem) about and inch or two past the tear, reversing the stitching and stitching the next pass 1/16th of inch away from first row of stitches, passing across the tear again, going about another inch or two past, reversing and continuing in that back and forth motion, covering the entire tear and binding the patch fabric to the original jean fabric to make the repair stronger than the original fabric. This is sort of a darning patch.
If the surrounding area of the tear is very worn (and it usually is) make the patch large enough to allow the repair to reinforce the surrounding area also, or the next tear will be just above or below the strong repair.
The resulting knee, thigh or backside will wear like iron and has never needed further repair, although sometimes the surrounding area becomes worn as a result of the shift on the load on the fabric.
The color of the thread will make all the difference in the noticability of the repair. Could be very funky with contrasting or rainbow thread!

May 22, 2008 at 11:09 a.m. weirdwolf

Thanks for the tips. I have three pairs of old but loved jeans at home that need some TLC...

May 24, 2008 at 3:45 a.m. Lutrah20

I have become quite the expert around my neck of the woods... well not really, we don't have much in the way of trees around here....just cacti...LOL
I did a black pair of jeans for my DD's boyfriend last year...His favorite color is orange.... and he likes stuff with flames on it....sooo.....
I found some orange flame lightweight canvas, and went to work....
I fixed a total of 22 holes from 4x3 inches to little tiny "spark" holes. DD's BF is a welder...
I used orange tread, with red in the bobbin, and did straight stitches in a very fiery outline of each hole...
I wish I had a picture of the jeans...
they broke up....
Fixing pants can be fun... and creative and a walking work of art.....
I loved the red zigzag!
I have also after 25+ years of patching jeans made repairs that area really hard to see....mixing tread color and using permanent markers....

May 24, 2008 at 7:07 p.m. whitefluffydogs

wow, some of you guys clearly know how to do a good jean patch!

May 25, 2008 at 1:43 p.m. Iggyjingles

I used to do a combination of this method of jeans repair, and Marjorie's straight stitching "darning" (above) for my dorm mates when I was in a hall of residence in college. Every Thursday, when I had no classes, I made my room a drop in center for repairs. I fixed so many ripped knees and butts over the course of two semesters. Usually I used plain muslin on the inside. Sometimes folks asked for a decorative patch on the outside too.

Another way to facilitate major repairs is to undo one of the leg seams, which ever is *not* topstiched, so that you have a flat surface. This is especially good for doing surface embelishments.

I also did a lot of hem adjustments for my friends in those days.

March 14, 2009 at 4:59 a.m. TwilightTreasures

Interesting thing going on with the zig zag stitching. I love that! Very creative. :)

Previous Page | Next Page