My son's new winter coat (that just recently I bought, large enough that he could also wear it next year) got two torn holes in the back, luckily they were fairly small and within five inches of each other!
So, me being me I had to come up with a creative way to fix it. (I couldn't bear to think of gluing it like my husband suggested!)
After some thought I decided to make a monster patch to cover and enclose the tears.
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| The fabrics I used. |
Materials:
-small pieces of fabric that match the coat being repaired
{I chose two gray fabrics, red for the mouth, green to accent the monster and help tie it in with the coat colors; I also used a piece of an old white t-shirt and a piece of old black sweatpants.}
-coordinating threads
-pinking shears, optional
-sewing machine, optional, but very helpful
-sewing pins
-matching embroidery thread
-medium to large hand sewing needle to fit embroidery thread
-scissors
-Fray Check, optional
-sewing marker, ball point pen or permanent marker
-paper, pencil/pen & markers, optional {helpful in coming up with design}
Here is a picture of the two tears in Big Mr. J's new coat...
Process:
1. Come up with a design; you can design it according to the person the coat belongs to. It could be something as simple as a couple of heart piled on top of each other of as complicated as you want; challenge yourself!
TIP: Make the design the size of the patch you want to make then you can cut it apart as a template for the fabric!
So this is what I decided to do for my design, I colored the part of the design to the colors of fabric I was planning on using:
2. Once I had my design I cut out the main part; I started with the head of the monster. Place the head cutout on the fabric and trace around it using a sewing marker, ball point pen or permanent marker.
3. I cut one green piece a little larger than the gray piece to be the background and make the monster seem more like its "bursting" out of the coat (I used my pinking shears for these pieces).
4. Pin the two pieces together.
5. Sew the two pieces together; I used a zigzagy stitch. Set aside.
6. Next, I cut out the mouth and traced it onto the red fabric.
7. For the teeth I folded the t-shirt fabric to double the layers because I wanted the teeth to be really white and not have the red background coming through.
Then I sewed, using a straight stitch back and forth making a zigzag.
8. Then I cut the zigzag in half like this...
Giving me two rows of pointed "teeth".
9. Next, trim the excess fabric around the points of the teeth, just to make them easier to work with.
10. Pin the "teeth" around the edge of the mouth shape and then sew them in place by sewing a curve outside the mouth line {just eye-ball it and make sure your not sewing in the mouth}.
11. Now, trim around the "teeth".
12. Leave the teeth hanging and repeat the process with the other row of teeth.
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| Pin |
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| Sew |
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| Trim |
13. Now, position the teeth where you want them and sew them in place; sew right on the edge.
Pull the other row of teeth back so they don't get in your way.
14. Repeat for the other row of teeth.
15. You can see that the pointy corners of the teeth are sticking out in all directions.
I just trimmed those to make the teeth look more "cleaned up".
16. Now its time to make the eyes. I just cut two freehand circles from the sweatpants fabric; then pin them onto the green fabric.
17. Sew the eyes to the green background fabric, sewing close to the edge.
18. Now you can cut the eyes out leaving lots of extra around them for sewing; you can trim them later.
19. Iron a small piece of heat n' bond to the green fabric. {This will be for the claws.}
20. Cut out 6 long triangles for the monster's claws. Set aside.
21. Cut out the monster's paws. You'll need two.
22. Now remove the backing from the heat n' bond and position the pieces on the claws where you want them.
23. Iron the claws into place.
I tried to then sew around the claws; it didn't work out well for me. I just made another paw with claws and decided not to sew around the claws.
24. Now go back to the head piece; turn it with the backside up and trace the mouth onto the back.
25. Fold the fabric and make a small cut in the opening of the mouth...
26. Cut out the mouth opening.
27. Position the teeth under the opening of the mouth.
28. Pin the teeth to the head.
29. Sew, using a straight stitch right on the edge of the mouth.
This is what it looks like...
30. Next, pin the eyes in place.
31. Sew around the centers of the eyes; I didn't worry about having perfect circles.
32. Trim off the excess fabric around the eyes.
33. Now I cut out the single eye brow of my monster and pinned it to the fabric I was going to use.
34. Cut it out leaving enough excess around the template to make sewing easier.
35. Sew the eye brow in place. {I used bright green thread for this to help it stand out from the other gray background.}
36. Trim off the excess fabric around the eye brow.
37. Now pin the paws to the monster face where you want them.
38. Now sew around the paws {I used the bright green thread again here} and I sewed around each "finger" to show the separation.
39. Now the patch is completely assembled. This is what the back looked like...
40. Trim off the excess fabric; for me it was only the red that hung over the edge.
So the patch looked like this...
41. Now, I used the Fray Check on all of the beginnings and endings of my stitches to ensure no threads come loose over time. Allow to dry.
Now to attach the patch to the coat:
1. Position the patch where you want it; make sure it covers the holes and I wanted mine at a slight angle rather than straight.
2. Pin the patch in place.
3. Thread the embroidery thread through the hand sewing needle. Cut a long piece so you don't have to figure out how to add more.
4. Tie a knot in the end of the thread and begin sewing the patch to the coat; you can do this however you like.
This is what my stitches looked like...
5. To finish the stitching I just tied a simple knot {Don't cut the thread yet!} and put a drip of Fray Check on it to hold. You can see the know on the left side of the monster's head.
6. Now instead of cutting the thread off at the knot, push the needle through to the inside of the coat.
7. Cut the thread with 6-8 inches of extra thread hanging out of the coat.
8. Now pull the layers of the coat apart so that the thread is pulling in between the layers of the coat. You shouldn't be able to see it at all.
So here is the finished patch...
Big Mr. J's coat needed to be washed, but I wanted to get the patch on first to unsure the holes didn't get bigger from washing.
This is what the patch looked like after washing! He really likes it!
