This pair of jeans….what can I say? I’ve worn them a lot and they’re my favorite jeans. I like the fit and they’re comfy, but like all clothes, time passes and they wear out.
It was the laundry that took a toll on these. Specifically, the dryer. The fabric is stretch denim. Stretch denim has elastic in it to give it that stretch. Elastane actually. Elastane is what’s used to provide stretch in stretch denim these days. I just looked it up and Elastane is made of mostly Polyurethane. Pretty amazing huh? I had no idea. Polyurethane is the stuff used in clear coats for furniture. Apparently it’s also been made into a stretchy fiber that provides elasticity. And I thought that good old elastic made of rubber was being used.
Well, turns out that the elastane is no match for the heat of the dryer. The dryer’s heat degrades it over time and it starts to pucker, as seen here:
And closer up here:
Today’s mending prompt, Fab Scrap, matches well with their need for repair and also for how I intend to repair them. I don’t think that stitching directly into the pucker will work. It won’t shore up the fabric because the fabric is already damaged. My idea is just to patch over with a fabric scrap.
I made a template of the size I thought would work:
And then I cut a fabric piece from that template:
The fabric scrap I’m using is also stretch denim. I couldn’t imagine doing this any other way. The 2 fabrics should match. Non-stretch woven denim won’t work here because it doesn’t have the same amount of give.
What I’m going to do now is give it some thought. Clearly this is a major repair project, but I laid the foundation of it today, and I have more days during Mend March to figure it out and work on it.
Sewcoordinated 