DIY Tutorial - Repair Jeans with a Ripped Crotch

Mmm, crotch holes. They sound a little more fun than they actually are, at least when it comes to denim. I'm not really one to get them myself, but Sam manages to work them into his jeans pretty easily - he'll assure you it's something to do with the size of his crotch region, and what kind of partner would I be if I denied that?

However the holes come to be, they're a bit of a pain - something I noticed when Sam donated an old pair of his low-rise, skinny jeans for me to wear through pregnancy. They fit like a dream, but the pelvic holes felt a little too risky - even though I'm hardly athletic enough to be flashing my nether regions to people at the moment, I thought it best for the general population if I fix them right away. Now that I've completed - and loved - the test run on my new jeans, the time has come to tackle a bigger beast. Sam's Absolute Favourite Pair Of Jeans.

What you need:
The afflicted denim article
Iron-on interfacing. If you don't have any lying around, buy the smallest quantity you can from your local fabric shop - you don't need much at all!
Thread in a colour similar to the denim you're working on
Sewing machine
Iron
Scissors

Difficulty
Easy

Time
Less than an hour

First, turn the jeans inside out and ready up your iron.

While your iron is heating up, cut out some interfacing in a size that will cover the offending holes and worn spots. It doesn't need to be accurate, you can always trim the excess away later.

Stretch your jeans over the ironing board as flat as you can, so you can easily iron the spot that needs repair.

Iron on the patches. Don't be afraid to double up on the interfacing to get good coverage or if your interfacing is much larger than the area that needs fixing - there are no hard and fast rules here!

Ready to go!

Once the interfacing looks thick enough to give good coverage to the area you're repairing, jump on the sewing machine. You want to zig zag stitch back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth over the ripped parts and the parts that are worn through. I like to leave the needle in when I reach the end of a run, and then turn the jeans around and stitch back nice and close to where I did the last line, to minimise the loose threads you'll have to deal with.

Depending on how big or small the fabric injury is, you might find it more helpful to have the inside or outside facing up while you sew - or, do as I do, and try a combination of the two. I usually start by sewing the insides, then once I'm getting a bit of coverage on the interfacing I flip the jeans so I can make sure the hole is being adequately disguised from the front. 

If you find more areas that need TLC as you go, simply iron on some more interfacing and repeat until you're happy with the result!

Here's the repaired area from the outside:

And a close up...

And the inside...

You can trim any excess interfacing, or keep sewing until it's all stuck down. Then, bada bing bada boom! All done!

The thread that I've chosen matches these jeans quite well, but as you can see, it doesn't really matter on this pair - they're super distressed in a trendy way anyhow...I could have used practically anything to sew them up. It is nice to know it's effective even if you are trying to disguise the tattered nature of your denim, and even better - if the repairs are quite low in the crotch region (as they usually are) then you won't even see the stitching when you're wearing them.

If you're curious, here are a few pics of my pair post-repairs. I didn't match the thread to the denim as well with this pair, but it isn't noticeable at all when I'm wearing them - at worst, my crotch looks a tad bit shadier than usual (and if people are looking that closely, I think I have more than repair stitches to worry about?)