Patching Holes in Jeans

For years when my son had worn holes in his jeans, I would either discard them or restrict them to "play" jeans.  Strictly just for those days we were going  to have some outdoor activity that I knew he would just get filthy or wear holes into another pair of jeans.  With the addition of two more children and money being tighter than before, I decided it was time to try my hand at patching the kids' jeans.  I haven't used a sewing machine many times, and the only sewing machine I have is an old 1955 Singer.  It was one of my grandparents, I was given when they sold off some of their things before moving.

After many Google searches I discovered that most of the ideas were either for girls or very young boys.  My oldest son is 11 and would just refuse to wear most of what I was finding.  Then I stumbled upon one that I thought would work, so decided to give it a try.  (I can't remember the blog I found it on since I searched so many, sorry that I can't give credit where do)  

Step-by-step

First I turned the jeans inside out to reveal the inner seams.  One side is a very thick seam and is harder to sew back up, however the other is a normal seam and is fairly simple to resew.

Since I'm pretty much a beginner with the sewing machine I didn't want to have to hem the bottom back up. Instead I just cut away the stitching a few inches above and below the section I planned on sewing. Creating a large hole in the side of the pant leg.

I then cut a strip of material from an old pair of my sons shorts that no longer fit.

 Then cut the strip into smaller pieces, that were a little larger than the hole to be patched.
Note: I measured approximately 1 inch past the hole in all directions.

I then cut pieces from an old pair of jeans that was irreparable.

Sew these pieces together to use as your patch.

Note: This is to make the patch more durable.

I made these patches just a hair larger than the fabric pieces.  

Then I placed the patch in the desired location and just used a forward and backward stitch across the entire hole.  This gives it a bit of a rough look but is something that would fit right in with many high dollar jeans on the market today.  (My son actually received some compliments on his cool new jeans at school)

Once the patch is sewn in place stitch up the seam, flip them right side out and they are ready to go.

As I have plenty more jeans to patch I will be posting more patch jobs at I find other cute (oh wait cool) ways of patching.  I also want to add some patches to my daughters jeans just for some flare.

If anyone has any suggestions on great ways to patch jeans I'd love to hear them.