Sunday 17 May 2009

old friends

I'm a girl who lives in jeans. They're my uniform, day in, day out, and fortunately for me that's ok for work too. And the more ancient they are, the more comfortable they are. Old friends really. I've lost track of how many pairs I have, but I have noticed that most of them are worn at the knees and need some attention. Not that I'm against the torn look, but just not on every pair.


My old Bernina has a darning option, which is perfect for sewing over the ripped and worn bits of denim and strengthening them, in a relatively discreet way.


If the denim's really thin I put a small patch on the inside to make the repair a little more substantial.


So...more life in these old jeans yet...and several more pairs to repair too. It helps to pay attention while you're sewing - a momentary minute of mind wandering and I neatly sewed right through my finger nail, with the broken needle coming out of my fingertip. Ouch!

18 comments:

Diane said...

On one of my posts, I said that when I left school in 1976 the song I remembered most that summer was " I pull my blue Jeans on" by David Dundas. (They used it for an advert and I can't remeber which). Can you remember it? Great pictures and wonderful darning!!!

dottycookie said...

My darning never looks as neat as that! I used to use pretty floral fabrics as patches behind the holes, and then stitch around the edges of the rip so that the fabric showed through. These days I just recycle the jeans into pencil cases or bags!

kristina said...

Your poor finger :( I must try the darning stitch on my machine. I live in jeans too, and I can't believe how quickly the knees seem to go.

K x

Simone said...

Very neat darning job! I hope that your finger is not too bad. With regards to Diane above, I think the advert was for Brutus jeans?

Pipany said...

Urghh, I feel a little bit queasy now Diana! Not good with nails and eyes! Hope you are ok and I love that darning. Very cool x

JuliaB said...

ouch indeed! Old jeans (beyond repair!) are good for polishing newly oiled wood too. Makes it shine. xx

ginny said...

ouch! saw this happen to a friend once.. i gave her some rescue remedy and also had some myself!... don't worry i won't be bringing you down my jeans to mend!
xx

dragonfly said...

That sent a shiver down my spine - it's my worst fear!
I try not to wear jeans everyday... but fail miserably!

Ali said...

Ouch!!

Wish I could darn trousers on my machine - Mark's knees are never intact.

caireen said...

I was thinking about this too, and like you, like old jeans with character. Now I keep one pair back which I cut up and use to patch the others (mine and N's) from the back, so you kind of get a frayed hole with a denim patch behind! cx

Irene said...

You do a great job darning your jeans. I didn't know it was possible to do it that neatly on a machine. I don't wear jeans, but I'll remember that it is possible. The information may come in handy some day.

The Curious Cat said...

That is a good idea! I've been patching up my jeans - they embarrasingly tear in the inner thigh area but I'll patch them only for them to tear again! Maybe material on the inside is the way forward.

I love jeans too - I'd hate to work in a job where I couldn't wear them! xxx

driftwood said...

so neat! my jeans are mended by hand, and it's not holding up, my sons I mended with a zigzag stitch and it just ripped next to the mend, I obviously need to learn to darn properly....

A time to dance said...

I would love to have a body that would fit into and look nice in jeans...but those days of wriggling into a size 10 are long gone and after being the mobile home to polly things hang and swing around and certainly wont streamline and conform to denim...I watch others in envy...how I would love to wear jeans all the time..but saggy baggy linen covers a multitude of sins...I hope...you are a very lucky lady...I think you are the only person who can make jeans look arty......ooooh my word verification is object...how strange

Unknown said...

Youch! That hurts.

Jeans are my pants of choice too :)

han_ysic said...

I did that in year 9 whilst working on an artwork involving applique. I heard a clunk, but couldn't see the needle for a while as it had broken off - in my finger. The nurse at school nearly fainted when I asked her to pull it out, the principal then drove me to hospital, the doctor made me put an icepack on it to numb the pain - which hurt more, and when he finally removed it, the icepack had pushed the needle in so I needed surgery to remove the needle. And people say sewing isn't a dangerous sport!!!

Anonymous said...

I'm very impressed - I am useless at darning and patching. Glad to hear that you are enjoying the calendar .
Best wishes,
Rhiannon

Julia said...

Im a jeans girl too.
Couldn't live without them - I have a pair of ancient flares with gaping wide holes in both knees and I can't bear to part with them - can I send them to you for repair! :-D In reality, they're past it but I love them all the same.

Sending love, enjoy the bank holiday!

Julia xxx