Mend a Fresh Hole in Jeans with Weaving

Learn how to mend a fresh hole in jeans while the threads are still there to weave with. Easier than patching later!

I have this pair of jeans I love. They were the first real (as in, not from Target) jeans I bought after my daughter was born, which means they are probably seven years old.

But they’re super comfortable, and they fit, and I finally got around to fixing the hems where I’d ripped them up.

So of course now they’re starting to get holes.

I know holes in jeans are cool, and I should just let them happen, but this one I wanted to mend because it had just opened up and I was able to do a little weaving to reinforce the stitching that remained.

In order to do this the threads still have to be in tact, so it’s really to mend a fresh hole in jeans rather than one that’s completely opened up. You’d still need an old-fashioned patch for that.

I used light blue mercerized cotton thread and a relatively sharp needle. Give yourself a good length of thread, thread the needle, make the thread double thickness and tie a knot.

Starting outside the boundaries of where the hole begins, bring the needle up from the back/inside of the jeans and begin to weave through the threads. You know, just go under and over some of the threads in one direction, then the opposite way on the way back.

It’s not crucial to do this perfectly, but as you get into the part where the actual hole is, you’ll want to weave it as well as you can (it gets hard to see really fast). This is basically replacing the fabric that has worn away.

When you’ve worked your way across the hole, weave in and out of the fabric on the other side for a couple of rows.

Take your needle to the inside and weave through the threads again to reinforce.

Tie another knot, take one more stitch on the back side and cut any remaining thread.

There’s one spot where I didn’t do a very good job of weaving, but other than that this fix isn’t very visible and hopefully will keep my jeans looking good for a while longer.

Now I just need to do the other leg.

How do you feel about holes in jeans? Do you buy holey jeans on purpose or do you mend a fresh hole in jeans as soon as it shows up? I’d love to hear your thoughts.