I’m so excited to introduce you to my latest patch pattern design. It’s inspiration comes from the technical protective knee padding found in motorcycle gear. Over the past few years, the biker patch look has made it’s way into the mainstream as a stylish detail on jeans and casual pants. The Biker Knee Patch is the perfect addition to not only repair an old pair of jeans, but to give it additional style. In this tutorial I will show you how easy it is to repurpose old jeans or pants cutoffs into the Biker Knee Patch.
Step 1: Download the PDF pattern of the Kids Biker Patch
Click on the image below to go to my Etsy shop and download the patterns and tutorial of the Kids Biker Patch. There are 5 patterns in the download that work on kids jeans ranging from sizes 18m to 14. The patch works well on both slim or loose fitting jeans. Simply use the knee width measurement to select the right pattern size.
Step 2: Use leftover leg fabric from jeans turned into shorts
If you’ve followed me for a while, you will know that I love making my family’s clothes last. For this reason, I don’t buy shorts for my kids, I upcycle a few pairs of either worn out or outgrown jeans, into shorts. If you want to learn how to turn jeans or pants into shorts, check out the free tutorial I posted here. The leftover cutoff fabric can now be repurposed to make the biker knee patch.
Step 3: Unpick seams
Using a seam ripper, unpick the cuff and side seams of the leg cutoff so you can use all of the fabric. Although a bit time consuming (expect to spend about 20 minutes unpicking each leg depending on initial size of pants), it’s an easy way to reuse old fabric. The best advantage, in my opinion, is the beautiful color variations you get at the cuffs and near the side seams because of the fading of the dye.
The front side of the jeans should be wide enough to cut all 3 pieces of one patch. However, if you’re using skinny jeans and the front side is not wide enough, unpick the outer side seam only and use the whole width of the front and back of the leg to cut out the patches. You can position the seam in the center of the patch so it looks like it’s part of the design. To verify which pattern size you need, measure the knee width of the jeans you want to repair and follow the chart on page 3 of the PDF tutorial.
Step 4: Repurpose old fabric into patch
Cut pieces of the appropriate pattern size and sew the patch on your jeans following the illustrated tutorial that comes with the PDF download.
Here you have not only a new pair of shorts for the upcoming warm season, but also a stylishly up-cycled pair of Biker Knee Patched jeans that your kids will wear for at least another year or until they outgrow them.
Now that you know how easy it is to repurpose jeans cutoffs in a beautiful way with Modern Mending’s patterns, you too can experience the sense of join each time your child wears a piece of clothing you visibly repaired with love and care.
Happy Mending!