Monster!!! (jeans)

Hey, y'all! 

     Keeping it short and sweet again.  If you don’t keep up with us regularly, the court reporter I type for got a promotion, which means I vicariously got one as well.  It doesn’t mean more pay, but it means more work, which works out to more pay, so YAY!  Unfortunately, it also leaves me much less time to blog than I used to have.  Most of the down time I have from typing is usually spent either catching up on chores I’ve neglected while I’ve been swamped with work or with spending time with my two guys, who I see only for mealtimes when I have a heavy workload. 

     Anyway, this is a project I squeezed in a while back and haven’t managed to get around to sharing on the blog yet.  We are fortunate enough to get some hand-me-downs from Pa’s sister.  She has three boys, and her youngest is just a few years older than Druid.  They’re also pretty close in size.  I gave birth to the jolly blonde giant.  Boys use their clothes hard, and sometimes Sis will be like, “Sorry they’re stained,” or “Sorry, they might have a hole here or there.” 

     I’m like, what?  Are you kidding?  My child rolls in the mud and managed to find the one remaining cow pie leftover from last summer’s cows to sit in when he decided he had to get a closer look at whatever was on the ground.  I am thrilled to receive whatever she offers.  He’s three.  It’s not like I’m sending him off to a job interview in torn jeans and grass-stained sweatshirts. 

     Anyway, occasionally worn-thin becomes worn-through.  And then they can become AWESOME! 

A little felt, a little imagination, and ta-da!

     Make sure you cut the main patch a good bit larger than the hole it’s covering.  You want enough to be able to sew around the hole without missing the patch, even though you won’t really be able to see what you’re doing 50% of the time, unless you intend to turn the leg inside and right side out for every single stitch, which I didn’t.  I went round the mouth with large cross-stitches and twice on the eye knee for a bit extra reinforcement, because even though that hole was smaller, the entire knee is tissue thin, then trimmed the excess material off. 

     Before you commit and sew it, line up your teeth, if you’re giving your monster teeth, and pin everything really well so you can see how it will lay.  I used that heat bond interfacing stuff that you iron on for the teeth.  I cut it out in a random, jagged shape, pinned it in place, sewed around the patch, and then ironed over the interfacing to stick the teeth down.  It was much faster than trying to sew each individual tooth down, and I already had some laying around from a nursery upholstery project I did before Little was born.  Use whatever you have lying around, because scraps are all you need to make this work.  For the other knee, since it was so much smaller, I cut out a main patch and sewed it on, then I very sloppily appliqued a pupil and iris.  

     

     I was kind of going for Frankenpants, so the sloppiness of all the stitching was intentional.  After I got both patches on, I went back and put some eyes over the monster mouth, just for the heck of it. 

     Little loves them.  We’ve gotten nice comments about them while out, too.  I’ve even been asked where I bought them.  Pa says he wants a pair just like them when his jeans wear through the knees, too.  So I think they’re a resounding success.  Depending on how well the patches hold, they might even make it to another little boy once mine outgrows them.