Worn crotch in jeans

Hello,

My jeans always wear out along the edge of the seam from where the four
seams meet and around to the backside. Another pair have done it
today!!

What can I do? I sew on patches, but the strain on the material appears
elsewhere on the edge of the patch and more holes appear.

Can I fix them? If so how?

What can I do to avoid this again? Other than losing weight?

Non technical language would be great.

Thanks in advance.


Thomas

wrote:
Hello,

My jeans always wear out along the edge of the seam from where the four
seams meet and around to the backside. Another pair have done it
today!!

What can I do? I sew on patches, but the strain on the material appears
elsewhere on the edge of the patch and more holes appear.

Can I fix them? If so how?

What can I do to avoid this again? Other than losing weight?

Non technical language would be great.

Thanks in advance.


Thomas


Thomas, the only success I've *ever* had in this is to haunt the Op
Shops and buy simlilarly coloured jeans whose crotch seams are in very
good condition. They don't have to be big enough to fit you, just big
enough to cut the entire crotch out of and make a large enough patch to
replace the area in your worn jeans.

All you do is cut out he worn area of your jeans and sew in the cut-out
from the 2nd-hand jeans. This will result in a seam that circumnavigates
the bummal area of your jeans, but at least it doesn't look like those
awful 'fat patches' found in the jeans of magnificently proportioned
folk. When I do this for my daughter, I add a bit of colourful piping
across the seat when I insert the transplant. That way, it looks as
though it was done on purpose and isn't necessarily a repair. This might
not work as well for gentlemanly folk, although if you're feelin' funky,
you could do a nice dark navy piping and add some on the pockets as well?

HTH,

--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, Australia

NB. For myself, I always buy the same kind of jeans. When the crotch
seams wear out, I sacrifice the eldest pair and turn it into shorts,
patching the crotches of the others from the offcuts. At least the
patches are the same shade of denim...

On 5 Jun 2005 16:01:21 -0700,
wrote:

My jeans always wear out along the edge of the seam from where the four
seams meet and around to the backside. Another pair have done it
today!!

What can I do? I sew on patches, but the strain on the material appears
elsewhere on the edge of the patch and more holes appear.

Can I fix them?

Probably.


If so how?

It's important for the patch to conform exactly to the
fabric it replaces, so that it doesn't transfer strain to
the edge. It's also important for the patch to extend
beyond the worn area, so that the stitches don't pull on
weakened fabric.

If the patch covers a flat-felled seam, cut away the worn
fabric that you have replaced; otherwise the lumpy seam will
grind a hole in the new fabric.

Ironing a patch to the inside of the fabric *before* it
wears out may help.

I've discussed a similar repair in some detail at
http://home.earthlink.net/~dbeeson59...T/ROUGH024.TXT
-- it's the very last entry in the file.

Joy Beeson
--
http://home.earthlink.net/~joybeeson/ -- needlework
http://home.earthlink.net/~dbeeson59...HSEW/ROUGH.HTM
http://home.earthlink.net/~beeson_n3f/ -- Writers' Exchange
joy beeson at earthlink dot net

wrote:
Hello,

My jeans always wear out along the edge of the seam from where the four
seams meet and around to the backside. Another pair have done it
today!!

What can I do? I sew on patches, but the strain on the material appears
elsewhere on the edge of the patch and more holes appear.

Can I fix them? If so how?

What can I do to avoid this again? Other than losing weight?

Non technical language would be great.

Thanks in advance.


Thomas

Hi Thomas. Mine always used to wear out on the inside of the thighs.
I patched them as long as I could. Since yours is in the butt, I
wonder if you couldn't lay a bit of leather from a second hand coat?
or something in place of the fabric. make it look like a design
element. like western chaps maybe.

Anyway, you need to lay a piece of fabric or leather, out on the worn
part I suggest that the only way to get a good fit and not strain the
edges of your patch and the more worn parts of the extant jeans is to
patch each leg seperately Then sew the crotch seam seperately.

Alternately, you can lay the new patch over the old fabric, stitch then
cut out the older part. this will create a great patch, particularly
if you are using the butt of another pair of jeans like was suggested
by someone else. if you decide to do this, be sure to then stitch the
inside of the old jeans down after you cut the worn part away, so
actually you are stitching the patch to the old jeans at two places,
near the edge of the patch and near the edge of the hole in the butt.


I always use bluegray thread and it blends in really well, but if you
want it to look like a design feature, then match your thread to the
rest of the garment. or to the patch if you use leather, or to the
rest of the garment on the edge that shows, and the blue grey on the
edge which won't show. LOL

hope some of this helps, Kitty