I taught my husband, a novice sewist, how to mend a hole in a pair of jeans using a darning method. It's an extremely strong fix that stretches the life of a well-loved pair of jeans.

In this installment of Work in Progress, I called in reinforcements β€” The Hubs.

The Hubs is Mark Van Handel. A little while back I mended the knees of a pair of jeans using a darning technique from Melly Sews. Mark saw how well it worked on my jeans, and he asked me to show him how to do the fix on a pair of HIS holey jeans. I was happy to help β€” as long as I could document the sewing lesson for Work in Progress.

Mark is a sewing novice, and he said this jeans-mending trick wasn’t difficult at all. So, if you’ve ever killed a beloved pair of dungarees, or if you’re serious about clothing care and making do and mending, this video is for you! Never again toss a broken-in pair of jeans.

Steps for Repairing Jeans

The video shows you each of these steps and includes some bonus intel to make your process and product even better.

1.) Cut a patch from scrap denim that’s slightly bigger (1/4 to 1/2 inch) than the worn spot. Round the corners of the denim patch.

2.) Cut a piece of fusible interfacing that’s 1/2 to 3/4 inch bigger than the denim patch.

3.) Place the denim patch on the INSIDE of the jeans behind the worn spot. Place the fusible interfacing atop the denim patch, glue side down. Fuse per IF directions.

4.) Turn your jeans right-side out. Using a free-motion foot (and feed dogs set in the down position), sew lines of zig-zag stitches top to bottom and right to left over the reinforced area.

Links in this Vlog

Here are links to stuff I mention in the video (particularly tools):

Here’s the fusible stretch interfacing, Pellon EK130 Easy-Knit White. (I bought it by the yard at Joann.)

This isn’t the stretch denim featured in the vid, but I have used this to sew Ginger jeans: Robert Kaufman Super Stretch Denim 8.6 ounce.

This is my iron; it’s a beast and I love it.

Speaking of irons, here’s an iron buying guide: Buying an iron for sewing: 5 irons less than $100 from Amazon.

Here’s the variegated denim thread we used in the video.

Should you be interested, this my Babylock sewing machine. I especially like its variable speed control and knee lift.

We used Schmetz universal sewing needles, size 80/12.

A free motion foot makes this darning fix possible.

Mark rounds corners with my Gingher applique/duckbill scissors.

Curves: Don’t press ’em without a tailor’s ham!

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