Wednesday - Summer Flies edition

It's that depressing time of the summer, when it's finally warmed up and stopped raining and it's a little TOO hot, when people start asking me, "So, when do you go back to school?" and when I've finished the fun stuff of the summer (Tour de Fleece, Ravelympics) and am left with a very messy house and lots of neglected chores.  And school starts too soon... but I'm not thinking about that!  Daniel and Steve and Secundus will be leaving for the great all-guy road-trip to take him off to Grove City College in 4 days, and he's not packed yet.  Right now he's hanging out with his future roommate and fellow road-tripper, and some of his classmates from Cedar Tree, and they are playing board games in the dining room and preparing to consume large quantities of flank steak stir-fry, which I also haven't prepared yet.  I have been sidetracked today by taking Tertia and Quarta to CYT camp, going grocery shopping (this was before I knew that 6 extra teenage boys would be added to the household temporarily), and by the fact that Facebook decided to change me over to the Timeline today.  So I decided if I had to be dragged into the second decade of the 21st century I'd at least try to upload a few relevant pictures to my timeline... and you know how it goes.

So, with the Fair and the Ravelympics behind me, I'm knitting at a more sedate pace once again.  This is Summer Flies, a lovely free pattern, in Dream in Color Smooshy in the colorway known as "Into the Mystic," which I think is the same exact shade as my hydrangeas.  I'll be linking up to Ginny's yarn-along.  Does anyone else see the humorous irony in knitting a lacy pastel shawl while reading a testosterone-driven thriller like Tom Clancy's Locked On?  I don't know, when it comes down to it, I think I may be more of a Tom Clancy thriller girl than a lace shawl girl.  It's been too long since I read one of his books.  This one was published just last year and is uncannily true to the geo-political situation while still having the same fictional characters I first started reading about 15 years ago or more.

The only sewing I've done in the past week was yesterday, when I fired up the machine to mend Steve's jeans (at the knee) and Tertia's stretch jeans (at the fake pocket).  I used the method I outlined in my tutorial on darning jeans, if you're interested.  I usually link to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced, but this is kind of boring and there was NO other sewing to report.  I need to get back to some quilting now.



Darn Those Jeans! - my first tutorial

Here's my first ever photo tutorial!  If you have a sewing machine with a darning foot, also used for Free Motion machine quilting, it's a quick process and can add years of life to a beat-up pair of jeans.  Last week when Primigenitus was off looking at colleges with Steve I went through his clothes and found this pair that had a belt loop pulled free from the waist.

There was also a nice L-shaped tear on the upper leg -- not the knee where they usually wear out.

For this method the set-up of the sewing machine is important.  You need a darning foot or free-motion foot that is compatible with a zig-zag stitch, and you need to have a free-arm if your pants legs are going to fit under the needle.  The darning foot for my machine was a $20 purchase about 15 years ago ... best $20 I ever spent.  Even though I don't use it much for machine quilting anymore, it has helped me finish many quilts in the past, and this technique has saved probably hundreds of dollars in blue jeans... my menfolk are tough on their clothes!  Along with the darning foot, you will need to drop the feed dogs so that you control the movement of the fabric under the foot instead of it being fed through in one direction by the machine.  And you can't see it, but my machine requires you to set the pressure on the presser foot to the "darning" setting, which is the lowest possible.  This means the fabric will not be pressed tightly to the throat plate while you are working, but has lots of freedom for you to move it around.

I like the 3-step zig-zag stitch for this technique.  Set the widest stitch width.  Stitch length doesn't matter because you will be controlling that yourself.  Just be sure that your free-motion quilt is wide enough to accommodate it!

You will need a patch to back the hole and serve as a foundation fabric.  It should be about 1/2" larger on all sides than the hole.  It doesn't matter if it's not the same shape: you'll trim any excess away afterwards.  I usually use denim scraps, but couldn't find any since I cleaned out my sewing room so this is a scrap from an old chambray shirt or jumper.  I used two pins to hold it in place from the front:

I tackled the smaller hole at the waist first.  It can be a little tricky to maneuver the bulky set-up under the presser foot:

Once you get it flat, and make sure the pins are holding the patch in place on the back, lower the presser foot.  It will seem like it's the same up or down, but your machine won't work if it's up!  Bring the bobbin thread up and take a few stitches that take bites from both the patch and the edge of the hole.  The motion of the 3-step zig-zag will be left-right, but your own hands will control forwards and backwards motion.  Once you get used to this motion, you can pick up the speed.  Just be sure you remember where the pins are and remove them once you have enough stitching in place to hold the patch in place!  I used a light blue polyester thread this time: cotton thread would be fine too.  I keep going with the stitching until the entire surface of the former hole is covered with stitching.  It's like creating a new fabric over that spot.

The blue thread blends in nicely with the denim fabric.  Once the belt loop is sewn back down you'll hardly be able to notice.

This is how it looks on the back after I trimmed away the excess fabric from the patch.

True confessions: I broke two needles, both when sewing down that bulky belt loop.  You do need to be careful not to tug the jeans in any direction too quickly, especially when sewing over a bulky area.  I took a break and gave my machine a good clean-out, which it needed.

And I eventually got the thing sewn down.  It looks almost as good as new!

Then it was time to pin and sew the second hole.  I trimmed off some of the loose threads that were sticking out from the hole and would just have gotten in the way.  Since this one was on the actual leg, it was a lot more challenging to tug into position over the free-arm.

I find it difficult to take pictures of my hands while they're sewing.  This is a still shot.  The technique is the same: back and forth and up and down until all the edges of the hole are attached to the backing patch, and then all over until a new, firm fabric is created.

And here it is finished on the outside.

And on the inside... oops, the patch got folded over.  No worries: the stitching will hold it tight through many washes and the edges will fray and soften after they're trimmed.

Here it is trimmed.

And all done!  I wonder if Primigenitus has noticed that his jeans are fixed yet.  I think these are the only pair without paint spatters on them from last summer.

If you use this tutorial I hope it helps extend the life of your blue jeans and saves you some money.  And I'd love to hear back from you if you do.  Thanks for stopping by!