how does a beginner repair denim jeans?

I don't have a sewing machine, and I have very basic hand sewing skills (aka almost none).  But I have a bunch of Wrangler and Lee jeans with knee areas that are worn through and I can't bring myself to throw them away.  I've tried iron on patches, but they are very thin material and don't stick very well. I have plenty of old jeans that I can cut up for patching material.

Could someone guide me through basic denim sewing techniques.  Such as what size and type of needles to use, what kind of stitching to use, anything down to the most basic.  I'd like to learn how to do this the right way.

John

ps...is there a fabric glue that might work better than the iron on patching type?

Hello there! I don’t have skills needed to mend holes yet either, but there are really good resources in the PEP Badge Bits, and Textiles badges are full of mending stuff.  Here is the Fix a hole in pants or skirt BB, there are three videos and one of them is about fixing the knee part of the pants!

I hope that helps even a bit (hehe)!

John, welcome to Permies! Good for you for wanting to repair those jeans. I second Saana's suggestion to follow that link and check out the videos and examples of what folks have done. Some use a sewing machine but a lot of them don't: needle, thread, and a sturdy patching fabric doing a fantastic repair job. You can make the patch as plain or fancy as you'd like!

I have to agree with you about the iron-on patches. The fabric is cheap and glues on them never stand up to more than a couple of washings. However, due to the chemicals in them, we permies pretty much consider fabric glues to be "toxic gick" and we work with alternative techniques instead.

I'd say, pick a pair and make a start. I'm guessing your sewing skills will improve wonderfully, simply by doing. This kind of repair is great practice and has useful results.

I use cotton sashiko thread and a sort of medium western sewing needle and keep boro mending style in mind when patching my jeans. (If you google for "boro mending" you'll get lots of pictures and how-to articles.) Use a patch considerably bigger than your defect and use internal stitches to help stabilize the fabrics together where they overlap, then I think the thing I do around the outside of the patch to slow and stabilize fraying is called a blanket-stitch, but quickly looking at those online makes me second-guess if that's right.