How To Patch Jeans With Crochet Lace

Do your holey jeans need a facelift? Learn how to patch jeans with crochet lace in this simple how-to tutorial.

During homecoming week in high school, the was always one day called “70’s Day” where–you guessed it–we all dressed up in pseudo-hippie gear and traipsed around the school gymnasium. Most kids would throw on a tie-dye t-shirt or their most flared jeans.

Not me. I would raid my mom’s closet and deck myself out in a fully handmade uniform of embroidered jeans, a crocheted vest, fringed belt and smocked top. I was legit.

Since I feel a little nostalgic, why don't we make a project based on this trend?

The Yarn

In my opinion, to patch jeans with crochet, you want a durable yarn that can hold up to lots of wearing and washing. Lion Brand 24/7 Cotton is my go-to yarn for crochet shoes because it’s mercerized, really strong and thin enough to have great delicate stitch definition. I thought it could work well paired with holey jeans and it really did! I just love the bohemian look of the crisp cotton stitches juxtaposed against the worn denim.

The Holes

This is pretty obvious, but every hole is going to be different. In fact, while my pair of jeans was basically demolished, I actually made my holes slightly larger by cutting and pulling on the threads in the denim. I wanted a big enough area that the intricacy of the lace could show through.

Don’t be afraid to try your jeans on, stick the crochet patch in the hole and then see if you need to expand the size of the piece of lace (or the hole!)

Sewing The Lace Patch Onto The Jeans

If your jeans have any stretch at all, you’ll want to actually wear them while you’re sewing your crochet patch on. Sounds a little sketchy, I know, but the good thing is, I’m almost certain you’ll feel the needle far before you actually sew anything to your skin!

Wearing your jeans while you sew the patch on, or at least while you pin the patch to your jeans, will help ensure that the crochet will look good when you’re wearing the jeans.

I used some regular cotton sewing thread to sew my crochet patches on using a basic basting stitch and going around the patch twice. You might be able to see that my stitches aren’t very tidy at all, but I don’t think it matters much on jeans that are already so distressed.

Crochet Doily Patch For Jeans Pattern

Supplies:

• ch – chain
• sc – single crochet
• sp – space
• ch3sp – chain 3 space
• ch4sp – chain 4 space
• ch5sp – chain 5 space

Notes:

Round 1: Ch 1, sc 8 in magic circle, sl st to first sc to join. (8 sc)

Round 2: Ch 3, sk first sc, sc in second sc, [ch 3, sc in next sc] 6 times. (7 ch3sps)

Round 3: [Ch 4, sl st in next ch3sp] 7 times. (7 ch4sps)

Round 4: [Ch 5, sl st in next ch4sp] 7 times. (7 ch5sps)

Proceed like this, adding one chain per space on each subsequent row until doily reaches desired size.

Fasten off and sew onto jeans. I found it helpful to use my sewing thread to sew through the fastened off yarn strand just to make the crochet patch extra secure as it goes through the wash.