Recently The Boy has acquired several pairs of new trousers (in addition to the three pairs that I’ve made recently, his wonderful big cousin scored him 2 pairs of brightly coloured jeans and 2 pairs of bright lightweight trousers for the summer), so I thought it was about time to make a little room in his wardrobe and get rid of the green corduroy pair that have got to the Well-They-Do-Just-Still-Fit-But-For-How-Much-Longer stage. But then I realised that the fabric is almost threadbare in the knees (as well as stained with who knows what) and I couldn’t pass them on when they might rip upon a first wear from the recipient.
My oh so accurate fabric cutting – all ready to get stuck in to the mend now
Time to do a bit of mending then. An excellent excuse to try more knee monsters. But I was right out of thick red fabric, so I ended up using a scrap piece of thin red fabric and the bottoms of some grey school trousers that had been slavaged into shorts. The grey added strength. I pinned both to the back and then stitched the design, err, I guess you could call it free hand, but making it up as I went in order to take in the worst bits was more like it.
Fabric pinned behind and design stitched on (via hole picked in side seam) prior to cutting
Then I cut away just the green fabric to make a red mouth and and both the green and the red to make grey eyes. Reverse applique in action. Then I zig zagged over the edges to keep everything in place, and added some teeth and centres to the eyes while I was at it. Then it was just a case of resewing and finishing the side seam where I’d unpicked it. The other side I did in different colours, cos if it’s meant to look different you don’t have to worry about getting it to match!
Voila!
They met with the Boys approval this morning before they got passed on in the playground – destined for the little brother of one of the Girls friends. I was a little worried he’d be jealous, but when asked he said he’d rather have his new starry trousers. Phew.
Prolific Project Starter 