Sometimes you find a great pair of jeans and you wear them and wear them until certain areas start to take to the wear a little more than others. For some people + jean combos, it's the seat; for others, it's near the pockets, knees, crotch, or wherever.

This specific pair of jeans I have tends to wear thin not very far from the crotch seam, towards the back. In this case, I can't really turn them into shorts and I would really like to avoid having to throw them out. I may have paid good money for them...or gotten them at a discount or thrift store. Regardless, I like them even though I have trouble taking pictures of them on.

A friend of mine taught me how to do this but I wanted to share the technique with others. It is a similar patching style to other jeans-patching instructables with a little bit of craziness thrown in there.

This is my first instructable. Thanks for being nice and leaving any constructive feedback regarding this instructable!

Step 1: Gathering Materials

You will need:
a sewing machine
thread (choose a color to match or contrast your jeans)
old jeans fabric or scraps (the color doesnt matter)
jeans you love with a rip, tear, or hole that you'd like to get rid of
pins

a little patience and love never hurts

Step 2: Cut and Position the Patch

Cut out a patch that is significantly larger than the hole you will be patching. In this case, the hole was about 1/2" by 1" and the patch was probably about 2" square. You can always trim the patch when you are done if it's too big. I curved the corners of the patch a bit to make things a little softer.

Turn the jeans partially inside out so you can see the part that needs patching.

Position the patch on top of the hole, on the inside of the pants. Do your best to get the patch centered on top of the hole. Place a few pins around the edges. As jean fabric may not always lie flat after its been worn for some time, it may be easiest to put your hand underneath the fabric, on the 'right' side. Just be careful not to stick yourself with the pins.

Step 3: Sew It On

Turn the jeans back so that the outside is out and the patch is on the inside. If you have pinned it from the inside, keep in mind that the pins can pop out through the fabric.

Position the jeans under the presser foot. I find its best to begin crossing the largest part of the hole, so as to cover it up. Beginning above the hole, drop the presser foot and begin to sew a straight line, crossing over the hole. When you have sewn a bit past the rip, engage the backwards button or lever on your machine and let it sew back a bit. With my machine, if I tug on the lower left part of the fabric that I am sewing, I will see a natural diagonal formed. If your machine is pushing to sew in a perfect line, once you get to the end, make sure the needle is in the fabric and adjust the angle of the fabric with the presser foot raised. I'm guessing that some of you with fancy machines can do this sort of multi-stitch zigzag with a programmed setting. I guess now would be the time to use that setting. My method is for those of us with simple machines.

Continue on with this until you have covered the hole with big zigzags. From here you can create a sunburst or crazy zigzag effect as you'd like. Be sure to cover the outer edges of the hole sufficiently and sew in any frays if you'd like.