Patchwork jeans tutorial

Old pair of jeans

This in one of the trends I’ve been a bit slow to connect with. Luxe casual is great, but distressed and tatty? I’m not so sure. Certainly not at first glance anyway.

I did a bit of distressing to a pair of black jeans quite a while back but it was hardly noticeable. See my feeble attempt here – very mildly distressed jeans.

I can think of a million ways to go about battering a pair of trousers. Bash them with rocks, hammer away at them. File them with a rasp. Fill the legs with stones, knot the legs and fling and batter the jeans against a wall. It could be therapeutic to distress a pair of jeans or any item of clothing for that matter. The sort of DIY to do after a really rubbish day.

Then Isabel Marant goes and does a patchwork jean and suddenly I’m in two minds. See her version here – patchwork jeans. No seriously, those jeans are divine.

Isabel could make garbage bags look fabulous. So I decided to buy into the look but take it down a couple of notches.

To up-cycle a pair of jeans, or anything really, into a patchwork version of it’s former self, follow these instructions.

Pin patches to jeans

You need –
1 x pair of jeans or any garment
denim patches – old wrecked denim clothing is great for this DIY
needle and strong thread
scissors

To make –
Cut patches from the denim.
Pin and place the patches on your jeans.

Sew patches to jeans using small stitches

Hand sew the patches in place using small stitches.

And that’s it.

A few words of advice. I bought two different coloured pieces of denim to vary the colour of the patches because I thought it would look nicer.

You could use a blanket stitch to sew the patches. Here’s how – how to sew blanket stitch. I used a plain old running stitch. Here’s what running stitch looks like – how to sew running stitch.

Patch work jeans

It is a little bit tricky getting your arm inside the leg of a jean to sew but I managed.

You could also use other materials to make the patches. Think suedette or even a floral canvas. As long as you can get a needle to pierce the fabric, and it will withstand the same wash as your jeans, it will work.

Patchwork is a looming trend and one I think will be around for a while.

At the top of this page are the Greenie Galleries.They have lots and lots of older and newer posts with all sorts of ways to DIY and not buy so you can be on trend. Share your DIY and up cycling projects on the – Greenie Dresses for Less – facebook page.


See you right here next week.

Greenie.