I’ve got a budget-friendly tip to share with you today… it’s all about lengthening the life of pants.
Your kids’ pants, your hubby’s pants… any pants that have a way of getting holes in the knees! For me… it’s my boys’ jeans.
Holes are attracted to the knees of their jeans like magnets… we’ve had new jeans one day and “holey” jeans the next!
One day it dawned on me rather than fixing holes… why not prevent them! For the past few years, here’s what I’ve done…
I use denim patches for jeans, and get the 2-packs at Wal-Mart for around $1.15…
First… wash jeans or pants in hot water and dry completely.Flip the pants inside out, and locate the knee area.
Thinking of where the knee would hit when the pants are on, position the patch to attach to the inside of the front knee area.
Iron on with hot heat {per patch instructions}…
Repeat on other leg as well… after you’ve finished, they will look like this…
Now reverse the pants so they’re no longer inside out, and… voila!Shh… nobody will know our little secret of the reinforced knees.
Nope… these are no longer ‘regular pants’. These are reinforced-knee, mega-durability, ready for serious wear-and-tear pants! {exactly the right kind of pants for my boys!}
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{this post is linked to We Are That Family & Life as Mom}
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{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks so much! I have two little boys, ages 5 & 8 and they are always coming home from school with "air-conditioned" pants.
My teenage girls wear their pants out in the knee way faster than my son(he's 3 yrs old). I'm assume it's because their pants are so much tighter than his. I'm going to use this trick on their pants!!! Thanks!
Great idea – we normally patch AFTER there is a hole! Also – did you know that Sears will replace any children's clothes that are damaged (HOLES!) as long as you are replacing it with the same size!!! They are my new favorite place to shop for my boys!
THank you, I needed this info! Have boys 3 & 5 yrs of age and we've been blowing holes in knees since my oldest was 4. Just had a big knee rip at church Sunday
Thank you! Thank you! I have been so frustrated with this very issue. My boys are not even rowdy and yet they get holes, on at least one knee, the moment we buy them.
Great idea – those patches always look so obvious and tacky on the outside of pants/jeans. I never thought to put them on the inside!
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MAN! That is a good idea! I was just venting about this very problem concerning our seven year old son's jeans. Thank you so much for this idea!
Thanks for the post! I just happened to look at one of the few pair that fits my son (because he hit a mid season growth spurt)and noticed the knee was starting to wear. With a second closely following him, this is a good way to make sure they last through both boys! Thank you!
When my mom was growing up (she's 82 now) in the Depression, her father, a tailor, (her mom died when my mom was very young) sewed patches and then a button on the inside of the pants in the knee area so that when her brothers played marbles or knelt down, they would roll up their pant legs so they wouldn't be kneeling on the buttons.
Great tip
I have to do that to my own jeans actually. I have a habit of wearing out my favourite jeans super quick, so recently I took the initiative and used iron on patches to save my jeans before I struck again.
You ever wonder why teenage girls wear their pants out in the knee way faster than teen boys?
Terrific tip! I'll have to share this at my next play group! Thanks!
My kids don't wear holes in their knees too quickly any more, but we used this trick when they were younger. It really works!!
This is also a great tip for crawling babies! Thanks!
I wish I had seen this little trick when my boys were still crawlers! Wow! I could have gotten so much more life out of all those jeans.
Ok, how ingenious is this? I am SO doing this. I get so sick of buying my boys jeans. I have a 9 year old and an almost 8 year old…..they go through jeans like crazy. I also have a 5 year old daughter who can wear out her jeans easily too (when she wears them that is , she is more of a dress girl!)
Great tip! Now if they only made patches for windsuit pants….
AWw but knee-holes are the fun part of jeans xD Personally I like walking the back of the legs off. I used to get in trouble for it all the time but it was nice to have my pants fit better around my feet.
Fantastic idea! I should do this for some of our pants. Although in our house, it's often the crotch of the pants that wears through or rips first… how do men DO that?! LOL
I need to do this with my son's pants. He is always wearing holes in the knees. LOL!
thanks!!! I get so tired of making my boys change into 'play pants'.. and the poor things still get so confused! this way they can wear ALL their pants to play!
thanks!
Well, this is one of those "why didn't I think of that" moments. I have a stack of about 5 pair of jeans waiting for me to patch them. Now, I know what I'm going to be doing to the new ones I got last week!
I was just at Joanne's fabrics last night looking for something to reinforce my 3 boys' (2, 4 and 5)jeans – it didn't even dawn on me to put the patches on the insed before they wear out!! My google search led me hear. THANK YOU for the idea!
I am so glad that everyone knows about this tip. I have been doing this to my sons pants for years.. I was so tired of having to throw away his jeans because of the holes and i hated the way that patches looked on the outside of his jeans (at least for school) this way only i know that they are there…
I know this is a good idea. i tried this and after the first wear they were falling off. Is there some trick to it. I followed the instructions and left the iron on the right temp. I have three girls that act like boys sometimes. I’ve even tried to patch the holes and had the same results. should I just sew them on?
You can also use this trick to save your jeans in other “friction” spots. I had a favorite pair of jeans that were wearing out at the corners of the back pockets, and they still had just enough material to keep them from being indecent. In desperation, I went and bought some of those patches. I straightened out the fabric so it was all covered, and then patched them up from the inside and you couldn’t tell a difference!