Ripped Jeans - all patched up!

I'm a lover of distressed jeans but the rips can be so hit and miss - rips that look cool when you're standing can be deeply unflattering when you sit down! Equally when you're a busy mum, you find yourself bending and kneeling lots, meaning that the rips can become bigger over time.

My first distressed pair of jeans were my Only patch jeans, bought last year from ASOS. With two small rips, they were perfect until repeated wearing resulted in this...

I tried an iron-on patch I bought online but it just didn't work. I guess the rip is in a place where there's lots of pressure and after just one wear, it started to peel off so I brought them to The Zipyard to see if a professionally applied patch would work....and I have to say that for only £6, the result was pretty impressive...

Inspired by this, I decided this week to regenerate a few other pairs in my wardrobe. First up, a recent purchase I got in the Gap outlet at Junction One for just £11. They have their rips a few inches above the knee so they were particularly awful looking when I sat down. But the fit was good otherwise (I find Gap jeans really great for fit) and I liked the colour.

Next, another fairly recent addition to my wardrobe, my Vero Moda jeans, already had patches underneath the rips but they all peeled off after one wash, which was disappointing as these had become favourite jeans of mine.

Lastly, my Replay skinnies are a fab fit but they were just a bit too long. Over the winter, this wasn't a problem as I cut them and wore ankle boots to cover the hemline. However, I've not been able to wear them all summer as the ends are a bit tatty from my less than perfect scissor action.

I brought all three to The Zipyard this week and had extra large patches put into the Gap and Vero Moda jeans and a hem put on the Replay ones. Because I chose large ones, each patch was £6 but I felt that was well worth paying because not only do they sew around the perimeter of the patch, the team there also sew around the rip itself. It's a double securing of the weak point and as I've found with my Only jeans (which I had patched back in May and have worn lots since), those patches aren't going to budge easily.

To make 3 pairs of jeans wearable again, I paid £37 in total - 5 large patches & 1 hem. The quality of the work was first class and super fast too. Yes, if you're handy with a sewing machine, you'll probably feel that was expensive but for same day fixing up of 3 pairs of favourite jeans, it was a better use of my time to get the experts to do it for me.....plus I don't have a sewing machine anyway :)

It got me thinking that perhaps you might like the look of ripped jeans but feel they are too revealing so this could be a good option to still get the effect without having to tan random parts of your legs (I have actually done this).

Finishing with Sunday's outfit which includes my new Gap jeans and a graffiti wall...which I got very excited about when we came across it on our walk to the market in Belfast...

Jacket - Dunnes Stores (8 years old!)
Jeans - Gap Outlet & patches!
Shoes - Dune London (AW14)
Top - M&S (SS15)
Cross Body Bag - Prada (SS13)
Necklace - Next (SS15)

Ax