It happens to all of us: one day we’re going about our business in our favorite pair of jeans, only to discover that a hole has appeared and is ruining our style.
There are several ways to deal with holes in jeans. One of which of course is to sew it up. However, we’re not all fortunate enough to know how to sew, so maybe for you that isn’t an option.
So how do you fix a hole in jeans without sewing? One of the best ways to fix a hole in jeans without sewing is by using heat-activated tape, an iron, a fabric patch, and some fabric glue. Essentially, you’ll be inserting a fabric patch into the damaged area so your jeans will look good as new!
If you don’t have the time to invest in learning to sew, or need a quick fix for your jeans, then read on to find some great tips and strategies for how to repair them up without needing a single thread.
How To Fix A Hole In Jeans Without Sewing
The fact that we tend to wear jeans religiously, and often have our favorite pair, means that it’s worth taking the time to learn how to effectively deal with any holes or tears that appear.
After all, it’s inevitable that sooner or later you will accidentally tear them somehow and it’s natural not to want to splash out a load of cash on new ones. Especially since you probably spent so much time picking out your current ones and have likely grown attached to them.
Use A Fabric Patch
The most common, and most effective way to deal with any kind of hole or tear in jeans is through the use of a fabric patch.
- The first step in this method is of course to get hold of some fabric patches. These patches should match the color and hue of your jeans as closely as possible, so as not to mess with their appearance – unless that’s what you want to do!
- Now, get together everything else you are going to need for this fix. In this case, that will be some self-sticking clothing tape, heat-activated hemming tape, fabric glue, an iron and a workspace (a table or bench is best).
- Now that you’ve assembled everything, you’re ready to start. Start by cutting some of your garment tape, thin enough to cover the tear or hole. Placing it over one edge of the damaged area, peel off the other side of the tape and stick it firmly together.
- Get your heat-activated tape, that you’ve cut to the same size, and place it on one side of the damaged area. Once you’ve done this, go over it with your hot iron (without using the steam setting).
- Here comes the fun part. Cut your fabric patch to be a bit bigger than the size of your hole or tear and stick it over the damaged area.
- Stick the fabric patch to the jeans by applying your fabric glue evenly over the surface. Then all that’s left to do is apply fabric glue along the hole or tear, and make sure everything is firmly attached.
And there you have it! In less than 10 minutes you can have your favorite pair of jeans back up and running. Without a sewing kit, too.
Go For The Ripped Jeans Look
Sometimes it’s better to take a problem and turn it into an opportunity. In this case, we can take our ruined jeans and turn them into an incredibly stylish pair of ripped jeans.
So how do we go from ruined to ripped? All it takes is a pair of scissors and some sandpaper, and a flat surface, it doesn’t get much more simple than that. If you don’t happen to have sandpaper lying about, don’t worry, you can choose anything rough, even a cheese grater!
Of course, this trick does work better if the hole or tear is located on the leg part of the jeans, but you can still pull it off wherever it is.
As I’m sure you aware, the rugged, ripped jeans look is increasingly popular in modern times, so why not make the most of a bad situation and allow your jeans to become a fun experiment?
Become on trend without spending the big bucks, and prove to yourself that every cloud has a silver lining with this jeans modification.
First things first, this works better with lighter-colored jeans and/or ones that you’ve owned for a long time. But at the end of the day, whatever happens, you will turn a pair of jeans with a hole in them to a stylish new pair.
- So we’re going to place our jeans on a flat surface, ideally a table. You might want to lay newspaper or something similar on it beforehand so as not to accidentally scratch the table.
- Then, depending on where the hole or tear on your jeans is, take a small object and place it inside the jeans in that area. This will prevent you from accidentally ripping both sides of the jeans (ripped jeans in the back haven’t caught on yet!).
- Take your rough instrument – be it the sandpaper, a cheese grater, or whatever else you managed to find – and start to soften up the area surrounding the tear or hole in your jeans. This technique will allow you to pull off the frayed look. But if you just want to extend the hole or tear and go for the simple, ripped look then you can just do that instead.
- Taking the scissors, now you can start to pull away at loose fibers in the jeans in the area you just went over. At this point, you’ll start to see the look come into place. Take the threads once they appear visible and get creative by pulling them in different directions. Essentially you want to make your own design as you do this. Pull out more threads if you want a larger hole, and less if you’re looking for a more subtle effect.
That’s more or less the whole process! Using a combination of scissors and your hands, you can create the exact look you’re going for.
One important thing to bear in mind before proceeding with this modification though is that if you make the hole too big close to the knee, you could accidentally make it bigger as you walk.
So, it’s worth considering the position of the hole in your jeans before you go crazy.
Yet, if you do worry about the hole getting bigger and ruining your new-look ripped jeans, then there is a solution for that.
A similar strategy to before, all you’ll need is an iron, some fabric iron-on patches cut small with scissors, and that’s about it.
All you have to do is place the iron-on patches either side of the tear, and iron them into place. What this will do is prevent the hole from getting too big and allow you to walk around without fear of further damaging your jeans.
Transform Your Jeans With Creative Patchwork
One way to deal with your damaged jeans is to create the ripped look, but there are many other ways to make the best of a bad situation.
As we went through earlier, the easiest fix for your damaged jeans is to cover the tear or hole with a fabric patch.
You can restore your jeans to their former glory and appearance this way, and go back to how things used to be. Which is great.
However, what if I told you that it was possible to upgrade your jeans and take them to the next level with a slight modification of this technique?
You can achieve this creative solution one of two ways.
- Either go for the custom look and leave a highly personal touch on your jeans.
- Or, and perhaps easier, take another pair of jeans you own (ideally of a different color), and use a patch of them on your damaged jeans.
Since it’s slightly easier, we’ll start by combining two pairs of jeans technique. I imagine you own more than one pair of jeans, and if my intuition is correct, they’re probably slightly different colors/hues.
This is perfect for what we want to do. There is a counter-intuitive aspect of this method, you know that hole or tear in your jeans? We’re going to need to make that a lot bigger.
Maybe not exactly what you wanted to hear, but bear with me. In order to truly pull off this look, you’re going to want to go all-in. That means measuring out large rectangles in the middle part of both legs of your jeans.
Next, it’s simply a case of repeating what we went over in the fabric patch fix. Since this is a slightly larger job, sewing can be useful, but the patch technique will work just as well.
As for the custom patch look, you’re going to need a few things: An iron, fusible webbing, and a fun fabric patch. For example, you could make your own fabric animal, or pattern, or color it your own way.
Iron the fusible webbing onto the fabric patch to fuse it to your custom patch.
Then, go ahead and iron the fused patch to the damaged area of your jeans, and you’re good to go!
Turn Your Jeans Into Shorts
A slightly more radical repair, this fix will change the way you use your jeans, so take some time to think if it’s really what you want before you take the plunge.
Also, as you might imagine, this modification will only work if the role or tear is on the leg part of the jeans.
On the plus side, this is an amazing way to repurpose your damaged jeans and turn them into a really neat pair of denim shorts that you can enjoy during hotter weather.
So, in order to turn your jeans into shorts, you’re going to need a couple of materials. Namely a measuring tape, a fabric marker, and a good pair of scissors.
Start off by thinking about what length you want the shorts to be. Do you prefer them to taper off before the knee? Or a slightly longer fit that hides the knees?
Whatever the case, this will be the first thing to figure out before moving ahead with this fix. If you’re really struggling, you can take your measuring tape and measure an old pair of shorts you own to get an idea of what size might be good for you.
- Once you’ve made your mind up, use your fabric marker to mark out the spot you want to cut up to. Although you’ll want an extra few inches beyond that in order to mess around with frayed edges etc.
- Then it’s a simple case of cutting where you made the marks. This could be the end of the process, and you might decide that you’re happy with how the shorts look already, which is great.
But if you’re not 100% satisfied and you want to jazz them up a bit, then here are the options available to you.
- If you’re looking for the frayed edge look for your new jean shorts, then here’s what you’ll need to do. You can use a similar technique to the one I explained earlier in the ripped jeans section.
- To recap, you’re going to want something rough like sandpaper, and some scissors. The process involves softening up the threads and fibers until you can pull them apart with your fingers.
- You can apply this technique either to the jean legs themselves, or the part where they cut off, or both! That part is up to you.
- If you prefer the roll-up look, then once you have finished cutting the jeans to the appropriate length, roll up each leg and switch these rolls at the side to keep them there.
- If you can’t sew or prefer not to, then you can either take them to get done professionally, or simply keep the jean shorts as they are and roll them up as and when you want.
There’s another custom look available if you know how to sew, and that is attaching some fabric to the edge of the jean shorts to add a splash of color or a pretty pattern.
Give Sewing A Go
I know, I know. This article is about non-sewing fixes for your jeans. But hear me out. If the thing that holds you back from sewing is that you think it will be too time-consuming or complicated, then I think you might be pleasantly surprised.
Now that we’ve exhausted the non-sewing options for fixing a hole or tear in your jeans, I think it would benefit you to know how simple the sewing process can be as well.
Sewing is definitely a skill, and I’m not saying you will become an expert overnight. Yet you can certainly do more than you think, and with a few tips and some guidance, you could open up so many more possibilities when it comes to fixing your jeans, and any other item of clothing for that matter!
Once you get into it, you won’t look back, I promise! Sewing can be a highly rewarding practice and before you know it you will be sewing Christmas sweaters for the family and warm hats to get through the winter.
So let’s go through some of the basics to get you started, and then we can see how that can help you fix your jeans.
Choose Your Method
First things first, you need to sort yourself out with a nice new sewing machine. Your choice will obviously depend on how much you’re willing to spend, but you can expect to pay anywhere from $100 to $1000.
Take a look at online guides and figure out which sewing machine seems easiest to get to grips with. Alternatively, a much more affordable option, and perhaps more appropriate for the job of fixing your jeans, you can sew manually.
For this, you’ll need some sewing needles, pins, a fabric measuring tape, an iron, and some thread.
Gather The Supplies
Next, you’ll want to assemble all the sewing essentials and keep them in one place so you’re ready to go.
The materials you are likely to need are scissors, fabric, thread, a seam ripper, pins and bobbins.
Learn Technique
Tosew by hand, you’ll want to learn some of the stitches out there before getting started.
These include (but aren’t limited to): the ladder stitch, the running stitch and the catchstitch.
For a detailed guide of how to practice each of these techniques as well as several others, check out this breakdown by Apartment Therapy – https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-sew-basic-stitches-221433
Practice
Of course, when you start out, you’re going to want something to practice on. Woven cotton is a good fabric to start with, due to its composition.
Woven linen is also a great option, the material often used to make light clothing such as pajamas and blouses. So if you have any old pajamas lie around, now’s the time to get them out and practice your new skill.
Easy Sewing Solutions
Just like the non-sewing solution we discussed earlier, you can achieve the same effect by replacing the glue with sewing.
First, clean up the area of the tear or hole by cutting away any loose fibers or frayed strands.
Then, take a fabric patch as before – the same color or different depending on the desired look – and cut it down to the right size to cover the affected area.
Now you can use your newly learned skill of baste stitching or running stitching, around the edge of the patch to seal it in place.
Now, that’s just one way of doing it. Being able to sew also opens up other fun possibilities.
Like for example, sewing on a nice custom fabric patch over the tear. This could be anything from a cool pattern you like, to some art you made and want to display on your jeans.
Or, if you’re skilled enough, you could try your hand at embroidery. This entails doing embroidery stitching over the affected area to close it up in an interesting pattern of stitchwork.
One last option is to use darning stitches to make the hole or tear seem as if it were never there. By weaving carefully, you can sew the hole up completely and fix the problem without needing anything other than a needle and thread.
How To Clean Up Stains On Your Jeans
Finally, we’ll end with some of the best ways you can clean up stubborn stains on your jeans and get them back to looking their best in no time.
Let’s take a look at two of the more common types of stains out there.
Grass Stains
We all get carried away sometimes when running around. Maybe you’re playing soccer in the park, or chasing the dog around the garden in our jeans and before you know it you’ve got a big grass stain on your favorite pair.
Get some white vinegar and baking soda and mix them up until the consistency is thick. Get an old brush, and scrub away at the stain. Once it has faded away, throw the jeans in the wash, and they should be good as new!
Coffee Stains
Another highly common stain, is coffee. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve filled a coffee cup beyond the level I should have, only to inevitably spill some onto my jeans.
To deal with this type of stain, get on it straight away. Soak it with warm water and dab away with a sponge and some detergent. Then chuck it in the wash and say goodbye to the coffee stain.
