Repairing Holes in Jeans

I have two favorite ways to save money on clothes. First, I like to buy clothes nice-n-cheap at thrift stores. This usually requires a little hunting, but that's part of the fun for me. If I'm open minded about what I'm looking for ("I need a new pair of jeans," or "I could really use a dressy black shirt") I'm always able to find something in great condition, and the right size.

The second way I save money on my family's clothes is by keeping them in good condition. It's rare that I can't repair a hole or tear, or get out a stain.

My brother-in-law recently brought me a pair of jeans that tore on one of the back pocket corners. Here's what I did to repair his jeans:

To start, you need a durable piece of fabric. I saved the leftover circles from my blue jeans baby blanket for mending jeans. If you ever have a pair of jeans that are beyond repair, consider saving them for other jean repairs. Place the fabric behind the hole.

Then set your sewing machine to a "zig-zag" stitch and sew back and forth like crazy. I like to use the special "denim" thread I happened upon once when I repair jeans. I had just enough left for this little hole. Usually, it's a great color match because it changes between several shades of blue. These jeans, however, weren't quite as blue as the thread.

I solved the color issue by layering a little brown thread on top of the blue thread. From a distance, the colors blend nicely. Now you can hardly tell that there was a hole.

Win.