I am known as the pants patcher in the family. I patched and patched and patched my husband’s work jeans. He had no butt with a beer belly and the pants would slide off his bottom. He would grab the belt loops back by the pockets and jack his pants up. That created problems in the belt loop area and at the top of the pockets.
You can see in this old photo I was patching the back pockets.
I think I complained and cursed every time I patched my husband’s pants. Now if I meant him being here, I would patch his pants for 24 hours a day for a month straight, but he’s passed away, and patching his pants is no longer part of my routine.
I still patch some pants now and then. It’s a little bittersweet. I’ve learned now not to complain about dreaded tasks as one day, even dreaded tasks, might be missed. The pants I patch now are my son Buck’s pants….and occasionally my son-in-law Craig’s pants. I don’t complain.
The other day my son Karl came and mowed my lawn. I noticed his shorts…They were patched-well one leg was patched.
I took a closer look. Karl explained that his pants ripped from his knee all the way up to his pocket. He stitched the top together with yellow thread and then found an old pair of jeans cut a patch and put that above the knee area. He sure did!!
He said he stitched it all by hand with needle and thread. HA!! Oh, Karl. He had numerous sewing machines at my house, just four houses away from his house, and he patched his own shorts by hand with needle and thread instead of borrowing a machine or asking me to do it. Genius I say!!
The patch is actually pretty cute. So I guess if the patching pants torch in the family is going to be passed from me on to anyone, it will be my son Karl. He doesn’t have a sewing machine but he does a “darn” good job with a needle and thread!!
Way to go Karl !!
This post made me smile
Good job, Karl. Being so self sufficient.
You did a fine job with him, Jo.
His stitching and patching is “divine”.
Super job Karl – I have a son who does his share of fixing things too – makes my heart happy!! I also have a couple of daughters and granddaughters who carry the torch very well.
Impressive!!!
Visible stitching is very “IN” with his generation. Way to go, Karl!
How wonderful that he took it on himself to patch his own jeans. They are not fun to patch, but I have done my share, but nothing compared to the number you probably did. When my son was small and I made his PJs I would always patch the knees when I was making them – so much easier.
That is a very resourceful son! I am one of those weirdos who loves patching pants, are there any others? Makes me feel like a pioneer I guess.
I’ve sewed for many years,but I think Karl patched his pants better than I could have done! My son thinks I can fix all rips in his pants but some are impossible!! Maybe I can send them to Karl to fix! This made my day! Thanks
Great job Karl. I also dislike patching, especially jeans because they are so bulky. My grandson’s size 5 jeans were especially hard but for some reason, I didn’t mind doing his. Ha ha. He had holes in the knees and those skinny little legs weren’t easy. Just for fun, I bonded a spiderman on the patch and then sewed it on the backside of the hole so it looked like spiderman was peeking out. It was a pain to do, but he loved it. I did the same with some minnion faces.Put a little joy in the job!
Jo your post made me think of my mom, there was 7 males in our house and mending jeans was always a job being done. She was a genius at doing it. They always looked good.
Karl’s style of mending is what’s popular these days. The more thread the better.
Our son was on a 2 week backpack trip with scouts when he was in high school. His boots started coming apart but he had his trusty sewing kit and the boots made the whole trip. The leaders were impressed. I think he can sew a button and his scout patches but does not iron . Pretty good at designing other things he needs stitched. And he always says, “please beautiful mother?”. Has taught his 2 boys to ask the same way . he’s a great young man and likes to fix things.I love him for being so resorsful.
Loved the story of the Spiderman-style patch! When I was in college, I made some “pin money” patching jeans. That was in the late 60’s when creative stitchery on denim was a ‘thing’ and patches in strategic places were a sign of (questionable) good taste! Ha! Hadn’t thought about that for ages. Thanks for the chuckle.
Our son bought a sewing machine at Goodwill, took a “YouTube class,” fixed it up, and made more than 100 masks during Covid. He thinks of it as just another power tool. All those years of taking things apart came in handy, I guess. Gotta love those kids who do the unexpected Kris
Thi pants patching post made me smile and chuckle tonight. When I was back “home” this summer I patched four pair of jeans for my older brother. Karl’s shorts are almost past the repairing stage.
Our 20-something son bought a pop-up camper and asked me if I would sew new curtains for it. He measured and figured out how much he needed with no help then brought me a huge pile of new fabric along with the old curtains that he wanted me to use as a lining. It was 30 years ago and I had a daytime job so I sewed every night for over a week. I was impressed with his figuring because I didn’t have much left over and pop-ups have a lot of big curtains.
Karl’s done a great job! I’d love to have someone to pass the replacing zips job to! That’s the one sewing job I dislike, it’s so fiddly.
Way to go, Karl! Nice patching. I love it when guys share their sewing.
Great job Karl and love the stitching line, lol. When our son was in marine boot camp he was the only one who knew how to properly sew on a button so it matched the other buttons. He took to training his marine buddies how to get it done and match.
Jo…I seem to recall Karl taking a sewing machine with him to college. Didn’t he do some sewing for a charity or some event? I’ve been following you so long, I’m fairly sure you included a picture of him at the machine. Good for him that he’s confident enough to see by hand.