How to Sew Decorative Patches on Jeans to Cover Holes & Look Cute

Tools and materials:

• Old jeans
• Fabric scraps
• Sewing pins
• Thread
• Sewing machine
• Embroidery hoop
• Starch
• Iron
• Ruler
• Scissors or rotary cutter

1. Cut strips of fabric

Cut 1½-inch strips of scrap fabric. Use as many strips as you want for your patch.

2. Sew the patches

Sew the strips together along the long edges. 

Now cut that large square into 1½-inch strips in the opposite direction as before, so you have patches that include all the fabrics.

Rearrange the cut strips into whatever pattern you want to make, and sew them together again, along the long edges.

Now you have a pretty cool looking square patch!

Topstitch around your patch with a ⅛ -inch seam allowance. This gives you a nice seam guide for folding in the edges of the patch.

3. Press the DIY patch

Fold the seam to the inside and use a clothes iron and spray starch to press and set the seam in place. 

Continuing pressing in all four sides of the patch. Then flip the patch over so the right side is facing up and give the whole patch one last press with the iron.

4. Snip the seam allowance

Snip the seam allowance off at the corners of the patch to reduce bulk.

5. Attach your patch

Pin the patch to your jeans over your hole.

To make sure you are not pinning the leg together, insert something into the leg to keep the two layers separate. 

Once the patch is pinned to the jeans, insert the bottom piece of a large embroidery hoop in the pant leg, so the patch is right in the center of the hoop.

Then, snap on the top piece of the embroidery hoop.

Use thin embroidery thread to stitch around the perimeter of the patch with a blanket stitch, attaching the patch to the jeans.

Then, do another row of stitching using a straight stitch just inside the outer edge of the patch.

How to sew decorative patches on jeans

Even if you only need one patch on your jeans, these are so cute that you just may want to make two so both knees match!

Of course, you can get as creative with extra stitching as you want for an even more decorative look.

Let me know in the comments how you liked this DIY jeans patches tutorial.