Repairing Knee of Jeans with Sashiko
I found these cotton denim jeans on Vinted for £2 - their only fault was this rip in the knee, it was large enough for me to fit my foot through, so it needed some mending! I had been saving some of this cotton fabric I bought at market to use for a patch so this was the perfect use for it!
Supply List:
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The Process
To start with I cut my cotton fabric larger than the hole (about an inch larger in each direction). Then folding over the edges (towards the patterned side of the fabric, and ironing it to keep the folds in place.
I also trimmed the scraggily edges of the hole. I decided I quite like the raw fray of the denim, so I left that alone - you could turn this under and whip stitch the edge if you prefer a neater finish.
Turning the jeans inside out, I've pinned the cotton fabric to the denim, patterned side of the fabric to the inside of the denim, making sure to cover all of the rip.
Turning the jeans right side out again. I used a needle and some scrap thread to tack down the cotton patch where I had pinned it; then removed the pins.
(I know I know, why pin it just to stitch it and remove the pins?) When hand stitching, if I have pins in my fabric, I stab myself far to frequently! By using a different colour thread, red in this case, it also helps show me how far I need to make my sashiko pattern stitching in order to stitch over all the edges of the cotton patch.
After realising a white heat erasable pen wasn't going to show up on this fabric, I switched to a pink chalk. It's a little tricky to see in this photo, but I used the pyramids on the patterned fabric as my guide lines, to sketch out my stitching lines.
I decided to use an indigo thread to extend the pattern out from the patch fabric; although I could. have used a white thread for a more subtle mend. This started off with the (almost) diamond shape of the pyramid, stitching in one direction for as long as I could before bouncing to change direction.
After I finished the diamond shape stitching, I decided I wanted to emphasise more of the pyramid shape, so added in the smaller diamond after. As before, stitching in one direction for as long as possible before changing direction.
Final Thoughts
I finished this mend in the first week of May 2026, and I've worn them several times since, this patch is holding up well. I did find it difficult keeping my stitching lines even when stitching between thick denim and lightweight cotton; partially because it wasn't a small hole! If I was doing this again, I'd probably baste stitch through the denim&cotton on the outside edge of the hole before I started sashiko stitching.
