Tutorial for mending jeans with designer style - technique # 4

Awhile ago, White Oak Cone Denim gave me a small book about an historic collection of denim clothing found in an abandoned shack near Greensboro, North Carolina. The images and information that denim historians have gathered about this clothing helped me to understand from another angle, and more deeply, an era of American history. The clothing, dating from the 1930s, tell the story of a family, living in poverty, working as tobacco sharecroppers. The clothing has been beautifully repaired and mended, by one person. Overalls have been cut into pants, newer denim has patched old, worn holes and resourceful combinations of patches and hand stitching have created an unintentional but beautiful, folkloric patchwork. Above is a scan of a pair of children's overalls. I have seen actual samples, and they are powerful, for the life that they document and also the thoughts and images they bring to mind of this homemaker, who worked to maintain the family's clothing with respect and durability.

As some of you may already know, I am writing a series of articles on mending, repairing and patching jeans with designer style. Fashion is driven by many different events or ideas, and when something is compelling, like this collection of denim clothing, it bound to have a strong influence.

The technique that I have written up for this particular post is inspired by this collection of historic clothing. With respect to this nameless family, I have tried to capture their spirit of resourcefulness and craft, and named the technique "Sharecroppers" patches.
Above is a photo of my final jeans. Patches are put where the denim was totally worn and ripped and where it needed to be re-enforced. Stitches, thread and denim scraps were chosen for how natural, practical or beautiful they looked.

Part of the goal was to make the inside as beautiful as the outside. This would make the jeans more durable, preventing the necessity of repeated repairs. Below is a photo of the finished inside of one of the legs.

Below is a photo of overalls from Ralph Lauren's spring 2010 collection that wonderfully capture the spirit.
For the entire tutorial on the "Sharecroppers patches" click here.

Shaun White's denim pants

The Winter Olympics is thrilling, passionate and breathtaking. These brilliant athletes share their world and dreams with us for two weeks. Their compelling, state of the art equipment and clothing, is catching every one's eye and certainly headed toward influencing design products far beyond Vancouver, in all kinds of ways. Who didn't notice gold medal snowboarder Shaun White's baggy - GORE-TEX pants. Waterproof, light, and fashionable like a young rebel, their too large, mended and ragged denim look, is hip like the snowboarding competition for which they've been designed to enhance the athlete's performance. But isn't it a hoot that they look like "mom" was up the night before, hand patching his favorite pants, his lucky gear, for his big day! I guess tradition meets state-of-art ... if you have a pair of hand-me-down jeans, that you want to patch up, try the cat and mouse patch, that you can click - here .

Mending and patching jeans - the "soho-boho" patch

click here to download tutorial

Welcome to chapter no. 3 and my project to write a series of articles about mending and repairing jeans. When mending jeans, different techniques come into play from mending other kinds of slacks. One needs to respect the special qualities of the fabric as well as understand the individual style of the wearer. There are many ways to incorporate these elements when you patch and mend. In chapter 3, you will find a technique for hard worn jeans, that need durable patches to endure continued hard wear. It’s been named “Soho-Hobo” patches, for how it is inspired by the look of the youthful rebel, the poor but resourceful artists, who founded Soho in the 60s in New York. It's a cool one.

How to mend and patch jeans like a fashion pro

- click here for tutorial -

Sometimes jeans are literally hanging together by threads and it's time to express your fashion prowess, experiment with your sewing skills and start mending and patching. Not only will it improve the durability and life of the jeans ... but it is so fun to enjoy the results.

On this blog, I am going to share with you some mending and patching tutorials - starting right here (click here) with my most basic technique, and also a heavenly one - just for denim - that I call, "cat and mouse."

Hope you love it, and shoot me any questions or images!

Denim is our comfort clothing and more

(above and below - Ralph Lauren Spring 2010 collection)
Denim is our comfort clothing. And when it becomes shredded, worn, ripped and stained it is even more appealing and personal. That's the moment when our jeans take on a new energy – built around a romantic history of having lived, loved and traveled. Designers know this and try to find ways to satisfy and define their denim beliefs. Carine Roitfeld and French Vogue rarely let an issue go by without a denim story or at least the "model's own jeans." Currently, at the spring 2010 fashion shows on both sides of the Atlantic, designers are sending jeans down the catwalk, that look like they are the model’s own, accessorized like model’s do, with all the knick-knacks that they seem to inherit from the previous shows or fittings. The look is never more charming when it is authentic and you do it yourself, mending, patching or beading your own way.