What to do with jeans with holes in the knees

[sandmaninator]

Hello,
So I got a sewing machine not long ago and turned lots of my old shirts and pants with holes in the elbows and knees into summer wear. Machine totally paid for itself!
But now I have a stack of old jeans that would be totally fine except for the holes in the knees. That is a hard spot to patch with a machine.
Iron-ons never seem to work for me. I guess I could turn them into shorts but, there is something about jean shorts that just seems... off.
What do folks do with holy blue jeans?

The good folks at Patagonia ought to have an answer since they are so concerned with the water usage required to make a pair of jeans.

[G-dog]

Wear them - distressed up jeans are in style, maybe add a few more strategically places rips/ fraying.

You can turn jeans into skirts or handbags too. If you have a lot, denim quilt? Pillows?

[Tom Bri]

Do this:
http://hub.me/a7kqL
that is a ink to an article I wrote a few years ago on how to make a permanent patch. It won't peel off and is easy.

[dess1313]

i see a lot of quits done with patches.  can get some neat patterns done with dark, light, gray, etc etc

i also see some take the ones with good buts, and turn them into waist aprons for bbq and such.  the legs get opened up and the but pockets become front pockets.  excess from the legs becomes the apron string

i swear i've seen a bean bag cushion too.  have you tried pintrest for ideas?  its pretty awesome what it has

[Sailor Sam]

Use your old jeans to make double knees on your new pair of pants. Like the Carhartt or Dickies style work pants. It works a lot better if you use the backside of the old pants, since that part of your pants don't wear out as quickly. Anything left over can be used as rags.

[pbkmaine]

Do like we did in the Seventies, and make them a work of art:

https://keithandanitascloset.wordpress.com/2014/09/06/diy-update-make-your-own-dkny-patch-jeans/

[lizzzi]

Use the iron-on patches, but stitch around them by hand. That's how my grandma fixed our jeans when my three brothers and I were kids.

[Fishindude]

There are a couple ladies around my hometown that have small sewing and mending businesses in their homes.
You can drop stuff like that off and get it repaired for peanuts.

[lizzzi]

Forgot that my grandmother would also take a home-made patch and put it on the inside, then put the iron-on or another home-made patch on the outside, and stitch around everything by hand. She was trying to make a really sturdy patch that would hold up for a while. We lived in the country, were outside constantly in the garden or the woods, and were hard on our clothes. There really wasn't money for new clothes, and she and my mom both repaired anything they possibly could.

[lthenderson]

i see a lot of quits done with patches.  can get some neat patterns done with dark, light, gray, etc etc

i also see some take the ones with good buts, and turn them into waist aprons for bbq and such.  the legs get opened up and the but pockets become front pockets.  excess from the legs becomes the apron string

i swear i've seen a bean bag cushion too.  have you tried pintrest for ideas?  its pretty awesome what it has

I have a quilt made from pieces of jeans and it is one of my favorites. It is nice and heavy. I've also seen others who have work aprons for working in the shop or garage to protect your clothes. The rear pockets end up being on the front part and a handy place to stick tools. Although I never have made anything from jeans myself, I used to design industrial laundry equipment and we would test out dryers by tossing in a load of knotted up jeans (I would buy them by the pickup load from goodwill type places) and running them until there was literally nothing but buttons and zippers left. Surprisingly, it didn't take all that long.

[Gone Fishing]

Use your old jeans to make double knees on your new pair of pants. Like the Carhartt or Dickies style work pants. It works a lot better if you use the backside of the old pants, since that part of your pants don't wear out as quickly. Anything left over can be used as rags.

I did this a while back for the kids' jeans.  They actually thought it looked cool and enjoy wearing them around.  Was a pain on the machine though, given the smaller legs.  When I have some more time on my hands, I might give it a go by hand. 

[sandmaninator]

Thanks for all the great ideas.
Since I have so many pairs, I might try pulling the seam on one side of the leg and sewing as much as I can with the machine and then finishing by hand.
My wife has some hand sewing skillz. We have 3 kids so, figure we'd best find a long-term solution to holes in knees!

[Tom Bri]

[/quote]

I did this a while back for the kids' jeans.  They actually though it looked cool and enjoy wearing them around.  Was a pain on the machine though, given the smaller legs.  When I have some more time on my hands, I might give it a go by hand.
[/quote]
Use shoe glue. It is easy and permanent.

[Roboturner]

JORTS