Mending a knee hole in chinos - nothing is working...help!
 

My son works in retail and he wears black chino pants and they keep ripping at the knees. I've tried the iron on patches, then one on each side, but they either wear off or wash off.

Any ideas how I can sew them on without making them look like a raggedy patch? Should I just buy similar fabric and try to sew around the edge?

Remember the old Toughskins boys jeans from Sears. They had a piece of extra fabric the width of the pant leg and long enough to cover the knee area. You could do that. Sew if into the seam. If it's felled, or sewed down, stitch along the seam. The tuck in the edges of the hole and sew it or glue it down. And tell Santa he needs knee pads.lol I do stuff like this all the time for my two.

Cut the seam up one side of the leg. You don't have to go all the way down to the hem, just enough to make the pantleg lay flat so you can sew a patch on. Make a nice patch with edges folded under, sew over hole & restitch the leg seam. All done! You could reinforce your patch on the inside with heavier fabric like denim, or double it, or sew one both to the inside & the outside. I've done this & it does the trick for me!

The iron on patches are a pain in the butt! DH is really hard on pants in various areas. I've gotten the chino-weight patches that have no glue and sew them in. Works much better than the sticky ones. My machine (Viking) also has a 'mending/darning' stitch that works a charm. It makes little tiny stitches over the entire area. With matching thread and taking my time, I must say, it actually turns out pretty well.

I remember those jeans from Sears, DS was rough on jeans as a kid and wore those.

I agree with the sew in patch people. However, save an old pair of his pants (one that is too far gone to patch) and use the fabric from those to make patches. Weight and color of fabric will match much better if you use the old pair to make the patches. JMHO


Anita

Black duct tape! My granddaughter can't wear jeans to school with any rips at all so of course all the teens have to wear them. They put bright colored duct tape on the rips. Your son could get creative. LOL

lol @ black duct tape! Maybe...

I didn't think of cutting the seams and sewing in a patch, I'll try that.

I have replaced a zipper and was very careful. It turned out well but I hope I don't have to do many more!

Thanks everyone!

I think Tartans idea is really a good one, worth a try!!!!