Baggy Bottom Blues

So in celebration of The Great British Bakeoff this week I thought I'd do a simple tutorial that occurred to me whilst re watching the final of the 2014 last week  - 'now that's a soggy bottom!'

Although I have to say I am very happy with the new way to test out how candied your peel is - I guess it's now okay to start throwing your bakes around the kitchen.

So last week I was a good girlfriend and did all my boyfriend's festival washing for him. I noticed there was a pretty big hole in the bum of his army pants (I'm apparently American now. Guys, it's fall soon. Ohmigod.) so I thought I'd repair it for him. Good, ain't I?

You'll need -

Some holey trousers

A sewing machine

A backing fabric - patterned or otherwise. I've seen some holes patched with florals that look great! I've chosen iron on interfacing for this as it holds itself on so you don't have to pin it.

Clip your backing to size and attach to the inside of your trousers. Use pins, or just iron on if you're really clever and chose to use iron on interfacing. Someone woke up on the right side of the bed this morning, eh?

Turn your fabric the right way out and get it under the machine. I decided to go for a darker coloured thread as it matched the thread used to make the trousers and it shows up on camera better, but I know on denim I would go for a very similar colour so it blended in. No one wants red stitching in the crotch of their Levi's thank you very much.

Start sewing in a straight line. When you get to the other side of the hole, make sure the needle is in the fabric (helps to prevent loopy stitching and is better for the machine) then lift your foot up and pivot the fabric 180 degrees. Sew another line that's not quite parallel to the first. Needle in, pivot and carry on sewing until you have covered the whole area that needs repairing.

I then went back over the hole again with the zig zags. 

After you think you have enough stitching (a good way of checking this is to take the fabric out of the machine and pull gently either side of the hole. If you can't tell there's a hole there as the tension of the fabric seems even then you're good!) turn it over and clip your backing down to size.

Tada! Little bit simpler than Bakeoff, or so it seems. 

Now my boy can wear his shorts without his ass falling out, which is always a bonus. I actually quite like the look of the repair and I can understand why people decorate with top stitching that looks a bit like this.

Have you had to repair any clothes with holes? How did you approach it?

Toni