DIY Knee Patches

DIY KNEE PATCHES

If you have boys like mine, it only takes about a month for a new pair of jeans to have holy knees.  Today I decided to take the time to start patching them up so they can still wear them.  No point in buying new ones...they look like this so soon anyways.

 If you are a non-professional sewer like me, this a fun way to patch up those jeans and add some personality to them.

Set up Thread...choose a matching or contrasting color for fun.

(wow didn't notice that big fuzzie thing on my thread til I uploaded this pic! lol)


Set on a zig zag stitch (this is as fancy as this machine gets) and not too tight of a stitch length.  You can always test out your stitch on a scrap piece of fabric to get the right size zig zag you would like.




Remove the extra storage compartment to give you a smaller sewing arm because you're going to need to be able to get those little pant legs scrunched up on there and there is not a lot of room to work with. Mine were 3T...The legs were almost too narrow to slide up onto this smaller sewing arm but I had JUST enough room to work with.





Start with one of the holes.



Cut a scrap of fabric that is larger than the hole.  My scraps came from a knit throw blanket I made last year.  I love me a good scrap buster! (Used to host a Scappy Link Party on here years ago for creative scrap buster projects).



Place the patch fabric inside the pant leg and line up with the hole, making sure there is overlap of both materials all the way around.



Pin the fabric in place so it doesn't move and leave you with another hole.



Trim the long threads of the ripped jeans so they don't get caught on your presser foot as you sew...(I forgot to do this on my first patch.)

Slide paint leg up onto sewing arm through the waist of paints.  Careful to make sure everything stays in place and then right above the beginning of the hole, make your first zig zag stitch which will run horizontally across the pant leg.  Make sure to back stitch every time you start and end.  

I did not take the pants off the sewing machine to trim the bottom thread after every stitch.  After completing a row and back-stitching, I would lift the presser foot and turn the need up if it ended in a down position, and pull the pants off slightly to lengthen the thread coming through the needle, trim the thread close to pants leaving a tail (a couple inches long), then slide pants back up to the next area to sew, always pulling the tail thread straight back away from you.  

Work your way down the patch, starting your stitch on the denim part, back stitching to secure the stitch, then sewing across the patch and back stitching when you get to the end. 

You can see my back stitching where the thread appears to be darker/more bold. (if you are newer to your sewing machine and didn't know, back stitch is where you use the reverse button or lever on your machine to sew backwards over the seam you just made...I go back and forth a couple times.  All sewing machines are different so consult your manual if you are unsure of what which button or lever you need to use for back stitching.) 

Keep working your way in rows to secure your patch as you work your way down the pant leg. 

See how scrunched up the jeans are on my machine?  I did have to wrestle it (a little) as I got closer to the bottom of the hole where the jeans narrow.  If your jeans are bigger thank 3T this will be much easier. 

Finish sewing the zig zag rows across the patch. End with a final seam across the bottom of the hole on the denim securing the bottom of the patch fabric to the jeans.

Turn Jeans inside out and trim the threads on the back of the patch and trim away any excess fabric.

Repeat on other pant hole.  Little boys pants have been given a life extension!  You can have fun with the fabric choice, adding some personality to the pants with your patch.  This really was super easy and doesn't require much sewing skill.  As long as you can do basic operations on your machine.  This doesn't have to be perfect (unless you want it to be), just have fun with it, I mean the pants were pretty toast anyways anything is an improvement.

And after patching these pants I realized they are almost too small on him anyways...oh well...but all his hand-me-down jeans from his brother have holes so I will be doing more of this.

Reversible Flirty Apron

                   

                              

I have been wanting to make the flirty apron by the dating divas for a long time but have not been inspired enough to take the time to sew one until now with my small group, a sweet bunch of women who enjoy celebrating each other!  With one of the birthdays this week being for a gal in our group who is particularly mind blowing creative and is always baking and hosting, this apron tutorial popped in my mind!  She is always doing special, amazing, creative thoughtful thing for others.  I followed the apron tutorial pretty closely the only change I made was that I made it reversible with coordinating fabric on the reverse side and used the fabric from each side as the pocket fabric on the opposite side and I changed the pocket shape on one side for variety and added some Rick rack instead of the pocket ruffle.  This friend has dark hair and looks great in jewel tones and I think green and dark blue look great on her so I scoured Joanne's and had a couple other options picked out that were okay and once I had settled on some other fabric, I got lucky and after thinking I had seen everything, found these fabrics on my way to the cutting counter which I had missed! So glad my 3 year old distracted me or I wouldn't have seen them.  

Here is the original tutorial by the dating divas. http://www.thedatingdivas.com/flirty-apron-tutorial/

Here are some pictures of the apron process as I followed the instructions and added the reversible detail.

Pre washed and dried fabric

Pattern cut out with contractor paper I have.  My friend is taller so I added an inch in length to the dimensions given in the tutorial.

Fold fabric in half and line up pattern on fold and cut out two coordinating aprons.

A little note that my newly turned 7 year old dropped by after I let him have some of the fabric scraps to tie around his head like a ninja.

All the pieces cut out according the the dating divas tutorial with the addition of an extra apron and pocket.  I decided to switch it up and not do a ruffle on the pockets. One side is the rectangle pocket and the other side I cute it to be rounded and added the Rick rack detail along the top.  Also my fabric for the bottom ruffle was not long enough, so I cut out two strips and then sewed them together to get the needed length.  

Sewing the front pocket, I cut it out with the top on the fold of the fabric, then turned it right sides facing together and sewed around the open edges leaving a small section open on the lower right side so I could turn right side out,

Then it looked like this. I ironed it out and folded in the open edges to match the seam and ironed it flat 

The. I ironed the Rick rack o. And wrapped around the edges, and pressed with the iron. This is temporary and doesn't hold it but it held it in place enough to sew it on.

Then did the same process with the rectangle pocket for the reverse side of apron.  Cut on folded fabric and top of pocket is the folded edge and then sewed around raw adages and left an opening to turn right side out.

To get the pocket placed right I folded the apron in half to find the center then lined up the pocket with the center and pinned it in place on only the top layer of fabric, then unfolded and pinned the other side down flat and top stitched around the sides and bottom of pockets.

Both pockets are now sewn onto the aprons.

Next, follow the instructions on the original tutorial by making the bottom ruffle.  Sew the neck strap and waist ties inside out leaving ends open and then turn right side out.

Carefully pin everything in place. The bottom ruffle will need a good amount of pins to keep the ruffle edge and apron edge lined up. This is all pretty much just following the if aging diva instructions so far.

But then...take your reversible apron and lay it face down on top of everything thou just pinned.  Carefully line up the edges especially along the bottom ruffle and pin everything good so it all stays in place.

Sew all the way around your apron leaving an opening on the side, make sure the opening isn't where any straps or Ruffles are attached.  You can see my opening below, it's below the waist strap and above the bottom ruffle.  Make sure to back stitch the when you start and finish and I also back stitched over the neck straps and waist ties to make it strong.

Carefully flip the whole apron right side out through that opening.

Now let's close the opening. Fold in the open edges to match the seam and press with iron.

Sew that opening shut but top stitching over the ironed seam you just did.  I did a small zig zag stitch and decided to keep going all the way around the apron for a little added detail.

And there it is side A

and side B

Such a fun sewing project!  I haven't been motivated to sew for a long time but this project got me excited to get it all out and make something.  The dating Divas did a great job with the tutorial.  I remember once buying an easy apron pattern and it was labeled quick n easy.  It took me like 8 hours because the patty was so confusing!  I would much rather use an on,one tutorial than a store bought pattern anytime possible.  And now you can take that great apron tutorial and make it reversible! Double the fun!

Here's a second reversible cute flirty apron

Painting the Outside Door

Well, our back door is technically a side door but it's the most used entrance to our house. Our house is brick but the side porch is all white look and I like the all white look, however between super alien green pollen and red dirt, nothing in Georgia stays very white for long around here!  This door was pretty beat up and needing a new coat of paint and for the past year I had envisioned a super dark navy blue almost black paint on it.  However when I got samples I ended up with like 50 shades of blue ranging from that super dark navy to light robins egg blue.  This color was in the mid-light range and an awesome friend who is much more decisive than me helped me narrow it down to a much more manageable decision.  Then I got my final opinion from my daughter and her buddy to decide between the final 2 paint colors.  This was not a time consuming project.  We did our homeschool in the morning and after lunch I started this project. The drying time takes the longest which was less than 2 hours and during that time I was doing laundry and playing with the kids.  Kind of instant gratification....that's my kind of DIY!

Here's a picture of the Opal Silk paint sample card with some of our eggs.

This color reminds me of my favorite blue-green eggs that my Easter egg layers leave me in their nest.  It's called Opal Silk by BEHR.  I bought a quart of exterior satin enamel (I didn't want a shiny glossy door) in the BEHR Primium Plus ULTRA Stain-Blocking Paint & Primer in One. Along with a small paint tray, small roller and 1 1/2 inch brush.

BEFORE:

This is after already going over it with an electric palm sander to smooth out and remove and marks, it cleaned the door pretty good.  I didn't sand in the molding, just whatever I could get with the palm sander.  Then I panicked and though maybe I should leave the door white after wanting to paint it for over a year...but I decided to ignore the self-doubt and hurry up and do it! 😅

I pinned up plastic to keep the door clean while working but I ended up taking it down because my cats were driving me nuts pouncing on it and making it fall down.  It's still winter, but we had a warm day in the 60s and I didn't have to worry about bugs landing on the wet paint so I ended up tearing the plastic down before even getting to painting.  But it's a good idea if bugs are out to keep your paint job from getting messed up. I placed a piece of cardboard under the door to work on and keep my hardwood floors clean.

I removed the handle and deadbolt and taped around the glass window frames, I didn't have painters tape and just used white masking tape.

I think I was supposed to remove hardware before sanding but it didn't really matter.  Just make sure to really wipe down the door nice and good to remove any dust before painting.

I looked up on Lowes how to paint a front door and it's pretty straightforward and did not take long. Less than an hour and I only painted the exterior face of the door.  I figured if I liked it I could later paint the entire door if I wanted to have that cute color on the inside as well. https://www.lowes.com/projects/paint-stain-and-wallpaper/paint-wooden-front-door/project

First stirred the paint and poured into my small paint tray. Starting with my paint brush, I painted the small wooden cross sections that separate the 4 window panes and the inside trim around that area.

Then using paintbrush, painted the mounding on the bottom half of the door.  (Photos taken after)

Using the small paint roller, I then applied paint over the 2 front panels that are part of the mounding on the bottom half, then before it dried, lightly dragged my paintbrush down virtically following the natural grain of the wood to leave natural paint brush marks.  

Bottom of door you can see the wood grain/paint is vertical in middle and then cut off by a seam created when you go across horizontally on the bottom of door.

Next, use the paint roller across the middle section of the door and then did the same thing, lightly pulled the paint brush across to smooth and leave the lines going horizontally following the grain of the wood. And repeated that method along the very top of the door above the window.

You can see the paint brush marks creating the grain after using the paint roller. This is along the long outside sections of the door that go top to bottom.

Last I used the paint roller down both sides of the door from top to bottom and then again, went over with the paintbrush leaving vertical lines following the grain of the wood from top to bottom.  I didn't end up taping the sides of the door with tape because with the paint roller it went on so clean and did not wrap around the edges at all.  Just be careful when going over with the paintbrush to not flick the sides, but if you do, you can quickly wipe any unwanted paint off with a damp rag. 

See how I did not paint the outside edges of the door.

I got some paint on that little piece of weather stripping on the bottom so I just painted the whole thing...looks better anyways because it was stained the Georgia red clay color and looked dirty once I actually noticed it.

I let it dry for 1-2 hours with door left open and then applied a second coat, repeating the steps above which did not take long, 45 minutes at most. The paint was dry within 1-2 hours and I just left the door open the rest of the day even though it was dry before shutting it.

I carefully removed the tape on the Windows, peeling it off pulling at an angle towards the inside of the window.  If you pull the tape off without cautions sometimes if the paint is still a little soft, it can pull of the paint around the edges of the tape.  There were a few spots of paint that got on the window but I just quickly scratched it off with my fingernail.

  It's been a few days now and still looks great :). I went to Charleston with my daughter for the weekend for a gymnastics meet and the hubby text me saying how good the door looks and that I should paint the door on our screen porch that color and our basement doors too! I'm not sure if I'll do that or just leave it to this one cheerful pop of color but we'll see. 

Sunny afternoon

Rainy afternoon

I painted this the day before going to Charleston and with this color on my mind, I was loving this house on rainbow row that I had to snap a picture of.  Maybe I will paint this someday!  Blue green turquoise love going on!!!!