Cool Boy’s Knee Patches

My 2-year old is hard on pants…big surprise there! So I did some blog searching and found an cool applique technique on Koala Brains and combined it with an idea from Make It Do. The final result is a Cookie-Cutter Reverse Applique Knee Patch! Awesome! And here’s how…


Dig out some cookie cutters in the shape(s) you want. My kid is big into guitars so these two cutters were perfect.


Lay the cutters over the knee holes…and then trace around them with a washable fabric pen.


 

Find a scrap of awesome fabric and cut squares slightly larger than the traced designs. The bigger the better so you don’t stitch off the side of the fabric, plus you’ll have more area to pin.


I added some light-weight fusible stabilizer to my patches. This will help keep the cotton patch from raveling so bad with each wash and gives the piece more body while you’re stitching.


Turn the pants inside-out, lay nice and flat, and place the patches, face down, over the spots. You might want to look underneath and make sure you are fully covering the design. Pin in just a few places, as you will be taking these pins out in just a bit.


Now turn the pants right-side out again and pin as much as you want. The pins underneath are there to hold the patch flat. When you’ve pinned enough, reach in and remove the underneath pins. *If you forget to do this, your sewing machine will hate you later…so don’t forget!!*


Ok, this is the trickiest part. Using your open arm machine (meaning, take off your tray if you have one), thread the pant leg on and start straight stitching around your pen line. You may have to start and stop many times, repositioning the pants, in order to get all the way around. Just remember to backstitch.


After straight stitching, I went back and did some funky zig-zagging to make it look messy and rock-star-ish… Same concept as before, just double check that you aren’t catching any other bit of pant in your stitching or you’ll have some ripping to do.


Here’s the front and back of the final product. Now it’s time to cut out the shapes!


Trim off the excess patch fabric. Don’t cut it too close to the stitching line, that way there is some ravel room. The interfacing should keep it from going too far, however.


Then trim out the denim on the front to reveal the patch. How cool is that!


So awesome! Cam loves them…he calls them his guitar pants.

 

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