Another *hip* mending project....

If I could have a buck for every patch I've sewn on a pair of jeans, I think I'd have a million dollars by now! And if I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars), I'd buy you a house (I'd buy you a house)......
Well, a while back, one of my sons, S., asked me to mend his jeans with a bandana and it's time once again for another BA mending job.  Here are J's jeans which are in great need of a patch.  To keep it cool and hip, I'll leave the ragged fray and patch it underneath the hole with a blue bandana so it just peeks out.  I've made a photo tutorial to show you how I did it.

I started with a plain bandanna.  I pressed it first and then ironed on some heavy duty interfacing to give the patch some umphf so it will hold up to sewing and the rigors of a 17 year old.

Next I opened up the seam on the side of the leg with a seam ripper.  Make sure you open the seam that is NOT topstitched.  There will be two layers of stitching here.  Open an area large enough to accommodate the patch and give yourself some space to move around.

You want to smooth out the jeans and then pin on the patch so the right side of the bandanna is facing the wrong side of the jeans.  We want the bandanna show through the hole.  I like a large patch that gives some heft to what's left of thin, worn jeans, and I like my patch to go a little past the open seam so I can catch it in when I close up the leg seam.

I pinned the patch on the wrong side, but I'm going to add a few pins on the topside to hold it in place.

Sew the patch down from the topside of the jeans so you can hide your stitching as much as possible in the other seam edge and etc.  You really need to be careful not to catch in the backside of the leg as you sew.  Adjust, adjust as you sew along. Speaking of adjust, I noticed that my stitches were much larger than they should have been and upon further examination of my sewing machine, I saw that my tension knob was WAY off.  Hmmmm...I recall a lil Hazel Peach was here the other day.  She likes to press buttons and turn knobs.

I've sewn around the three sides and left the open side seam alone.  That will get sewn down when we close up the leg, but before we close the leg up, I want to sew around the hole a little bit.  I'll sew a little way from the hole so the denim can flop open a little to expose the bandanna underneath. More coolness.

Now it's time to turn the leg inside out and sew it shut.  Make sure the patch is smoothed out and that you will be catching it in with the jeans' side seam.  I straight stitch the inner seam and then zig-zag the outer edge. 

Ta Da!  One more hip mending job complete -- frays in tact!
 Now.... if I had a million dollars!

Ric-rac flowers embroidery tutorial....

I was asked nicely if I would make a tutorial of the ric-rac flowers so I just couldn't say no.  Plus, I know how much I appreciate tutorials that others do.  Here goes!  I hope you try it. 

You may click all photos to enlarge them.

You will need:

One tea towel

Various colors of cotton ric rac

Pins

Fabric glue (washable)

Water soluble fabric marker

Embroidery floss

Method:

1.  I determined that it takes 12 points on one side of the ric-rac to make a circle that lays down flat.  So count twelve points and add a little bit extra so you can tuck it under neatly.

2.  Lay out ric rac on your tea towel and make a circle that lays flat.  Tuck under one edge and use a little fabric glue to secure it.  You may also like to use some on each cut end of the ric rac so it won't fray.  The brand I have is Aleen's OK to Wash It glue -- especially for fabrics.

3.  Next you will pin the ric rac down.  Lay out in a pleasing pattern.

4.  After pinning, you will secure the points of the ric rac with French knots and a small hidden stitch.  In all the embroidery in this project, I used 3 strands of  the floss.  I made  French knots on the outer points and secured the inner points with a tiny stitch that was hardly noticeable.

5.  With a water soluble fabric marker, mark the middle of each flower and then take a ruler and draw straight lines across to each inner point.  Draw stems and leaves and add any other extras you'd like.

6.  Stitch along lines within the flowers, catching in the points of the ric rac as you go.  I used the outline stitch for all my lines in this project.   For the center of each flower, add 3 or more French knots.

7.  Now finish up with embroidering the stems, leaves and additional flowers as desired.  Again, I used the outline stitch, but you might also like the stem stitch for this.  They are very similar.

8.  Spray finished work with a water bottle to dissolve the blue marker lines.  Launder as usual and press.

Tada!  You're done!

Thanks to Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary

Denim quilt-as-you-go tutorial...

By request, I made a Flickr set showing my denim quilt-as-you-go method. I'm just glad I thought to take pictures of the steps. I guess I either anticipated a "how to" tutorial or figured I'd need it as Old-Timer's disease set in. Click here for the Denim Quilt tutorial.