Patching a Hole in the Knee

Patching a Hole in the Knee

Its 6:00 in the morning and “Little Fish” and walking past me as she gets her school gear and I notice that she has put on a pair of pants that have a rip across one knee. Our conversation proceeds as follows:

“You’ll have to pick another pair of pants. I need fix those pants; there is a hole in the knee”

“Little Fish” looks down at her pants and says” I don’t have any other pants that are clean”

and I groan internally. The statement “I don’t have anything else that is clean” is a statement that is thrown around in our house often which translates to ~I don’t want to change my clothes. It doesn’t actually mean there are no other clean clothes, so I didn’t take her seriously when she said “I don’t have anything else that is clean”. Another thirty minutes go by and she is still wearing the same pants with the rip in the knee.

“You have to pick another pair of pants, “Little Fish”, I will fix them later. “

Which prompts another  

” I don’t have any other pants that are clean.”

I go up to her room expecting to find some clean pants which are clean. This is what  normally happens and I discover  she actually doesn’t have any other clean school pants left. I swallow some humble pie and tell her to:

“Put on something else and I will patch them right now.” 

I am a little stressed with the clock but I tell myself it’s only putting a patch on a knee so it really won’t take that long to fix. It only took 30 minutes and that was with other calls for “Mom I need….” from my other children and taking pictures of the process which is not normal either.

The below is one of many ways to patch a hole in the knee, I hope this gives you ideas of your own.

Step#1

(Final perimeter needed to reach not worn fabric)

Find a material that is about the same strength and

the same thickness as the part of the pants that is not worn.

Step#2

  

Cut the fabric patch.

 Make sure it is large enough to go out to an area

 of the pants that is not damaged or worn.

Step#3

  

Pin the patch on the pants. I am using a blanket binding scrap because it is the same thickness and strength as the pants. I am choosing to pin along the inside and will stitch only along one side to start and making a point to start and stop the seam a little before and after the ends. I am doing this to make it easier to hold the patch in place and not poke myself with pins.

Step#4

 

Now fold the edges of the rest of the patch will be and press it flat with an iron.

Step#5

 

Now flip over the patch and iron flat again. Pin it down to the pant leg.

Step#6

 

Sew a straight stitch around the edges of the patch ¼ “  from the outer edge of the patch.

Step#7

 

Sew a second stitch around the outer edge of the patch. I suggest you select a stitch that does go on the patch and off the patch onto the pants to give more anchor points between the “new” fabric and the “old” fabric.

Tools	Price if new	Price we paid	Time to get new spent	Time to get we spent
Sewing machine	129.00	0 already had	45 minutes	0 already had
Sewing pins	4.10	0 already had	45 minutes	0 already had
Iron	4.36	0 already had	45 minutes	0 already had
Scissors	1.00	0 already had	45 minutes	0 already had
Ironing board	13.88	0 already had	45 minutes	0 already had
Parts
Blanket binding	1.85	0 already had- scrap left over from another project	45 minutes	0 already had
Blue thread	1.50	0 already had	45 minutes	0 already had
Time to Procure
Pair of turquoise jeans	15.00 @ Poshmark	Originally 3.00 Arc thrift store	7-10 business days for shipping	1 hour @ arc thrift store
Price	15.00+15.00 for original pair of pants plus replacing them@ Poshmark=30.00 OR If you had to buy all the tools and parts it would cost 143.69 OR If you only had to buy the parts then it would cost 3.35	3.00 @ Arc thrift store + 0.00 repaired with scrap parts and tools we already had=3.00.	7-10 business days for shipping +7-10 business days for shipping=14-20 days shipping	1 hour +30 minute= 1 ½ hours for patching the knee on the pants and the original shopping trip.