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

DIY Song Lyric Canvas Art

Song Lyric Canvas Art

So if getting a house ready to put on the market and taking care of a 5 and 2 year old aren't enough...Our walls were so bare because we've only been here a year and all the ideas for art I wanted to make...I hadn't gotten around to doing yet.  So as we were staging the house, I decided I was just going to buckle down and make some of the things I had been wanting to try but just haven't had the pressure to actually get it done.  That way, the house wouldn't be SO empty, especially since all we had up were family photos which we had to take down.  PLUS, the now I'll have some new art to hang up right away after we move into a new house and those walls won't be bare like this house has been.  Apparently I can get a lot done when I have no time...funny how that works!  (I've made 3 paintings this week.  I'll post the other 2 soon so stay tuned...and I will admit, there is no time for perfection or reflection so whipping these out..they are what they are and normally I haven't done a lot of painting because I stress about it, taking my time and what not..these are not perfect but it's nice to have them up!)

Pick out a canvas, I purchased a thick 3 x 4 ft canvas at the local craft store that has really cheap canvases...I think this was just over $20.  

To start your song lyric canvas word art, find the lyrics to a song or poem that you really like and then use a photo editing program like picmonkey and add the lyrics/words line by line, editing each line to fit with the font you choose. Make sure you crop/size your template to scale of your canvas...since mine is 3x4 I made my template 3000 x 4000 pixels Here is what my finished template looked like...feel free to use it if you want, it is the lyrics of the song Happy As The Sun by Tyrone Wells (no I'm not OBSESSED but I do really like him and I liked these lyrics as I wanted a happy song that I could tell my husband and kids that it was about them).  

Take your finished template and upload it to a website like blockposters and select the size you want to print your image too and it will print your image onto the right amount of pages, blowing it up to the size you want.  now this isn't perfect...The template still ended up being a little bit bigger than my cnavas, which worked out since I had the thick canvas I just decided to wrap the words around the sides to make it fit without cutting any words out.  Print out the template and then trim all the pages and tape together.  Mine printed out onto 24 pages that I trimmed and taped together.

Now prep your canvas, if you want.  You could just paint the lyrics right onto the white canvas, but I didn't want mine to by stark white so I painted grey around the canvas, leaving some areas white...then after that was dry, I added a few washes of watered down white paint so there is subtle variation in the tone but nothing dramatic and it's not bright white.  

Take some sidewalk chalk (it wipes off easy without leaving the canvas dirty) and scribble the back of the top section of your template.

Lay it over the canvas, making sure it's straight and then use a pencil and trace over the letters to make a light transfer onto the canvas.  Now the chalk doesn't show up a TON but enough to make a guide so that the basic shape and spacing of the letters are consistent.   But to make sure I didn't mess it up or in case certain letters didn't show up well, I placed the template right below so I could also have a visual reference of what it was supposed to look like.

When I was done with one line, I would cut it off so the next line would by there, right below the line I was working on.  

Once you work through the first section, remove the template and scribble chalk on the next section and transfer...working your way down the canvas.

I used a small, flat edge paint brush and japanese sumi ink to paint on the lyrics.  I like the sumi ink because it flows on so nicely...I've painted words with paint before as well and you can use that if you want, but I just think the ink is much faster and flows better, especially for a more scripty font like I used.  

Once you are finished, make sure the ink/paint is totally dry, then you can wipe the canvas down with a cloth to get rid of all the excess chalk.  Then take some sand paper and lightly sand to your hearts content.  I didn't want the painting to be very bold and the black ink was so dark, bold and a bit shiny so I sanded away...and certain words that I wanted to pop out I sanded less.  Also, certain letters or words that were maybe a little messed up...I sanded those down a LOT which made the errors almost unnoticeable.  :)

Now, Hang it up and enjoy!  I spent 1 morning on this, getting done just before it was time to feed the kids lunch...thankfully they were enjoying being friends and playing in the playroom without incident that morning otherwise this would have taken much longer.