4 different ways to repair denim

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In this tutorial I’m gonna show you how to repair jeans in four different ways: One almost invisible mend by hand and the three other techniques that you can do on your sewing machine and, as such, you can use choose which technique that you prefer depending on which result you want and from what tools you have available to you.

The machine techniques I will cover are:

* Look in your sewing machine manual if you are unsure if you have a darning stitch

How to make an (almost) invisible repair by hand

In the video above I am showing you how I repaired several areas on one of my favourite jeans by hand.

Some of the areas that needed repair was a hole on the back of the knee, as well the belt loops which were getting worn out in a way I didn’t like the look of. I also needed to strengthen the fabric at top of one side of the back pockets, and I also needed to do the most common repair for me which is repairing or strengthening the inner thigh and/or crotch area.

Next time you have a pair of jeans that are torn in a less convenient spot – try out the following simple & almost invisible mend instead of getting rid of them.

To make this repair you will need:

Step 1 – Cut your patch slightly bigger than your hole/worn out area, then turn the jeans inside out and pin it in place on the wrong side of the hole.

Step 2 – Place the embroider hoop securely in place by putting the inner hoop under the fabric and then press the outer hoop in place evenly onto the inner hoop. Make sure the fabric is taut before screwing in place.

Step 3 – Double-thread a needle with matching thread and tie a knot at the end. Then make vertical running stitches along with the patch. It’s easiest to do this with the wrong side facing as that will help you cover the whole patch without having to mark out the edges of the patch on the right side of your garment.

As my patch was close to the sideseam of my jeans (in the video tutorial above) I found it helpful to start by attaching my patch to the seam allowance with a row of running stitches. Then I followed that by making whip stitches along the edge.

When you make running stitches across the patch start by stitching at the
bottom edge on one side and remove pins as you go. Create running stitches by pulling the needle up and down through both your jeans and the patch. You can do up to 3 to 5 stitches at the same time before pulling the needle through. Then continue to create vertical rows of running stitches across the patch.

When the thread runs out make sure to fasten the thread properly by tying a knot and pull the remaining thread through the patch, but not the jeans, to hide it.
Then snip off any excess threads, and double threaded the needle again. Hide the tied knot at the end of the thread by pulling the needle in between the patch and the jeans up to the area where you fastened the previous stitch.

Then continue to create running stitches until the whole patch is covered.

Step 4 – Once the whole patch is covered in vertical running stitches, remove the embroidery hoop. Turn the jeans out to the right side again, and cut off any excess threads on the frayed area around the hole. 

Step 5 – Place the embroidery hoop over the hole & patch again. I found it helpful at this stage to have a little extra give in the fabric. Now make horizontal running stitches across the hole and the frayed areas. Make sure to catch any threads that might be going across the hole. 

Step 6 – This step is optional and depends on the desired look of your jeans, as well as how strong repair you need. Create running stitches in any direction you want over the hole to pull any loose threads and frayed edges in place. Then fasten your thread.

You almost invisible repair is now done! 🥳

More hand-stitching methods to strengthen worn-out denim

In the video, you will see that I am strengthening the fabric at the top edge of my pockets in the following way:

First I ironed on fusible interfacing at the inside of my jeans at the worn-out area. Then I stitched over the worn-out area back and forth with small running stitches. I first stitched vertically then I stitched across horizontally until I was happy with how it looked.

I also tidied up the belt loops. I stitched in a couple of different ways depending on how worn-out different areas were.
On the more frayed and torn areas, I created small running stitches again vertically and then across the previous stitches horizontally. The side edges of the belt loops were just slightly worn-out and I found stitching along the edge creating small whip stitches was helpful.

Depending on the wash of your jeans or how worn they are you might want to use one or two closely matching threads to help you create a discrete repair. I also cut off any excess threads to create a neat and tidy look, but you can keep the frayed edges too if it suits the look of your jeans.

Then I repaired the worn-out areas on the inner thighs. I started by attaching fusible interfacing on the wrong side of the worn-out area. Normally this area on my jeans get way more worn-out the pair I mended in my video.

Leave a comment below and let me know if you also have this issue!

If you just have tiny holes of fabric thinning you can follow my instructions below, but if you have a bigger hole I would follow my previous instructions on attaching a patch.

I placed the worn-out area in a small embroider hoop, and then I made small running stitching along with the bias back and forth. I combined that with making running stitches vertically up and down along the worn-out area.

This creates a neat and discreet repair that prevents the crotch and inner thigh area to wear out too quickly.

How to repair denim with a darning foot

In the video tutorial, I am repairing a pair of jeans that belongs to my husband, which had a hole in the crotch area. If you want to watch how I repaired the jeans on my sewing machine using a darning foot you can watch the tutorial here.

But if you prefer written instructions then keep on reading…

To repair denim with a darning foot you will need:

Step 1 – Cut your patch slightly bigger than the hole and/or worn-out area. I found it helpful to do this on top of my jeans.
Then turn the jeans inside out and make sure that the jeans lay flat and that the hole doesn’t distort the shape of the jeans. Then pin the patch in place and turn the jeans out to the right side again and place pins on top of the fabric before removing the pins on the inside.

Step 2 – Now it’s time to attach the darning foot! When you do this make sure to remove the needle on the machine before you begin, as well as the attached presser foot. Then you will need to remove the shank from your machine. If you are unsure on how to do this and if this applies to your sewing machine – check your sewing machine manual.

Once the shank is removed place it aside, but keep the screw that held it in place as you will use this screw to attach your darning foot.
When attaching your darning foot make sure to place the metal bar on the darning foot above the needle clamp screw. Then place the metal part sticking out at the middle of the foot around where the shank was attached previously and fasten by screwing the foot in place.

This step is optional but I found it helpful for me and that is to lower the feed dogs on my machine. How to do this varies from machine to machine so please check your sewing machine manual for instructions.

Step 3 – Change the stitch length to 0 (zero) or as low as you can go. I would recommend that you to test a couple of different settings on a sample until you’re happy with the result. For example, by doing this myself I found that I needed to lower the tension of my thread to create a neat stitch.

Step 4 – Pull the jeans through the machine and make sure that the area that you want to stitch lays flat and that no legs or other parts of the jeans are pulling. I often find it helpful when I repair the court area on jeans to unzip the jeans as this gives you more flexibility to move the jeans around.

Start by stitching across the grain moving the jeans back and forth over the hole on the worn-out area. As the feed dogs are down and the stitch size is set to 0 (zero) you will need to move the fabric otherwise the stitches will be created in the same spot.
Also, when doing this do not move your fabric too fast going back and forth as you do not want to create too long stitches.
As the crotch is such a critical area that requires an extra-strong and utilitarian repair I’m stitching quite a bit, but if you want a more invisible repair only stitch as much as you need.

Step 5 – Once I stitched across the grain back and forth I continued to stitch along the grain back and forth over the crotch. I also found it helpful to stitch along the bias as jeans are woven with a twill-thread. This also helps to create a more blended in look as you can stitch in another colour here to more closely match the wash of your jeans.

Once you are happy with your repair just pull them off your machine and snip off any excess threads!

How to repair denim using the 3-step zig-zag stitch

If you want to watch how I repaired the jeans on my sewing machine using the 3-step zig-zag stitch you can watch the tutorial here.

But if you prefer written instructions then keep on reading…

To repair denim with a 3-step zig-zag stitch you will use your “normal’ presser foot – also known as presser foot A.

You will also need:

The settings for my 3-step zig-zag are as follows:
5 mm stitch width + 1 mm stitch length

I would recommend you to test a couple different widths and lengths on a sample before making your repair.

Step 1 – Iron on your fusible interfacing or pin a patch in place on the wrong side of your jeans.

Step 2 – Pull the area that needs to be repaired on your jeans under your presser foot. Lower the presser foot and stitch back and forth with your 3-step zig-zag stitch. You can go both across the grain, along the grain, as well as along the twill thread if needed.

For smaller holes, you might only need to go in one direction but for bigger holes, I would stitch back and forth a couple of times to create a strong & utilitarian repair.

Once again when you are happy with your repair just pull them off your machine and snip off any excess threads!

How to repair denim using a darning stitch

Now I’m gonna show you how to repair denim on a sewing machine with a darning stitch. If you want to watch how I did it instead of reading about it you can watch the tutorial here.

But if you prefer written instructions then keep on reading…

To make this repair you will need:

Step 1 – Attach your automatic buttonhole presser foot and thread your machine.

Step 2 – Put your garment under the presser foot. Make sure your automatic presser foot is fully pulled out. Place presser foot and needle slightly to the left of the hole that you want to darn.
Then put the needle down and press the foot pedal of your machine and it will automatically make a darn around 2 cm long and 0.7 cm wide (at least this is the measurements on my machine).
The size of the darn can be also changed if needed just look in your sewing manual for details on how to do this.

Step 3 – Turn the jeans and then repeat across the previous darn, if needed, until the darn covers the whole hole.

When you are done covering your hole just pull off the jeans from your machine and snip off any excess threads, and you are done!

If you want to check out more mending-tutorials from me click here!

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4 different ways to repair jeans

I really hope you found these denim repair-tutorials helpful and that you will get around to repair all those holes in your jeans instead of throwing them away!

If you do repair your jeans using the tips I shared with you today do not forget to tag me on Instagram @missmatti using the hashtag #mendwithmatti

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