A few seasons ago, I found this cute pair of Citizen of Humanity jeans in my local second hand shop, however I wasn’t a fan of the giant holes at the knees. I figured they would be the ideal jeans to test out a new patch design that I have developed with the intention that they could work on loose fitting jeans. In the following blog post, I will show you a step by step tutorial on how to sew a knee patch by hand over a large hole by using this floral patch.
Supplies Needed
– Large piece of fabric in the shape you want for patch
– Pins
– Needle & Embroidery thread
– Ruler & fabric chalk
Choose the right size patch
In order to make a successful patch, you need a piece of fabric that is at least 1″ larger than the hole on each side. The patch can be square, rectangular, heart shaped or shaped like a flower.
Pin patch over the hole
Lay your Jeans flat and pin patch into place to make sure it doesn’t move while you are working. I usually use one pin every 2″.
Sew knee patch by hand
To sew the patch on, I used 2 different types of stitches. The first is the back stitch which is done about 1/4″ from the edge to secure the patch into place. I used 2 strands, knotted together to make 4 strands, of olive green embroidery floss. This give the stitch a thick appearance.
The second stitch is the blanket stitch which is used to make sure that the patch doesn’t fray. This takes a bit of time to do but the end result is both functional and beautiful. Again, I used 2 strands of embroidery floss.
Reinforce patch with sashiko inspired stitch
In order to make sure that this large knee patch stays in place and doesn’t rip, I decided to reinforce the inside of the patch using a pattern inspired by sashiko, the ancient japanese tradition of reinforcing fabric with decorative stitching.
I first drew a grid using the points of the flower as my guide and tracing lines both vertically and horizontally at 1″ intervals.
I then used a pink embroidery thread to stitch little + at each intersection. This is a great technique to secure the patch to the jeans and prevent it from tearing. It’s also quite pretty.
Wash and Enjoy
Wash your jeans to make sure the grid lines are gone before wearing them. Although it takes time to sew a knee patch by hand, I find hand stitching to be extremely relaxing and as I’ve written before, stress reducing. It’s also all the more special to wear something that is repaired by hand since now it has a story.
Do you like my new design? Leave a comment below if you’d be interested in a ready to sew patch kit featuring the same sized flora patches as shown above. The kits would be available to order in my shop.