Creative Solution For Torn Pants

A creative Repair (and embellishment) for damaged clothing with an embroidered applique

A few weeks ago, my mom showed me her new stretch denim capris.  She was NOT happy since she accidentally ripped her pants when a lawn tool fell on her in the garage.  Thankfully she was not hurt, but the pants had a large cut in them on the lower front of the right pant leg.
“can you fix them so I can wear them around the house?”  she asked.

“Certainly.  I can do something so you can wear them and not worry if they look good or not.”

The cut was large and angled, so it was challenging to find a solution.  I looked for an embroidery design that would cover the strangely shaped hole but look good.  I discovered and purchased a gecko design since I felt that this particular shape would work best.  Unfortunately, I could not hoop the pant leg with any of my embroidery hoops so I needed a solution.  The answer:  create a free-standing applique.

To start, I steamed out the pant leg.

I then turned the pants inside out, trimmed away excess threads or nubs around the sliced area.  I placed a small piece of  fusi-knit on the slit and pressed it on the fabric.

Once the fabric cooled, I turned the pants right side out and using a tight zig zag stitch, I sewed across the sliced area.  I didn’t want a satin stitch—just something that would hold the fabric together.

Since my cut was so oddly shaped, I decided to make an embroidery applique so I could place it exactly over the area.

Using OESD Badgemaster, a wash away, tear away stabilizer, I embroidered my design.

After the embroidery was finished, I carefully removed the excess stabilizer from the design.  I then applied a layer of Steam a Seam 2 lightweight fusible to the back of the embroidery.  Again, I removed the excess SAS and placed the Gecko exactly where I needed him on the pants.

Next, I steamed the design in place.  Turn the pants inside out and iron a layer of removable tear away stabilizer to the back.

Turn pants right side out.  Using a semi-tight zig zag stitch, I sewed around the outside of the design to permanently attach it to the pants.

Once completed, I removed the tear away stabilizer and gave the pants a final steaming.

Now, they are better than new and my mom thinks they are too good to wear around the house.

Mission accomplished!

Tips:  If you decide to make an embroidered applique, select a design that is solid.  Designs with a lot of open areas won’t work well for this technique.  Why I selected this method:  embroidering directly on the pants wouldn’t work.  I needed to think outside the box on this project.