Power of the Patch

Our littlest Ramshackler sits on a hand-me-down car seat whenever we venture for a drive. After six years of use, the cover started to show some wear.


I thought about buying a seat cover or making one from scratch. I decided against both. We don’t need a new $50 seat cover. And I would prefer to sew something else, like pants for the kids or even some skirts for me, rather than the intricate seat cover. Then I realized a patch was all that was needed.
My son and I went to my stash. He selected the fabric, a former footed sleeper that both he and his brother wore when they were infants. The severed footies became hand puppets while I sewed. Together we headed to my studio and created a solution in about twenty minutes.
Ready to ride.

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7 Comments

  1. I am huge on patches! They extend the life of things so well and are SO easy! Plus you can find uses for sentimental fabric like old jammies!

  2. Another approach is to slide the patch fabric under the one with the hole, and turn back the edges of the holes to let the patch fabric show through. This is especially fun with a sort of matching/contrasting fabric. I’ve extended the life of many shirts this way, adding patch fabric behind the original fabric, until some of them are more patch fabric than original! Thanks for a great site!

  3. So true. Repurposing old clothing into new items is incredibly awarding. Anonymous, have you seen the work of Alabama Chanin? Natalie Chanin uses the material behind the cut/opening with absolutely stunning results.

  4. Patching is awesome, but make sure you’re keeping up on the expiry date on your carseat! The fabric in the straps can decay quite a bit without it being obvious visibly…

    Nice job though, I’m a huge fan of patching. I’m also trying to learn how to darn. My mother currently does all my darning, it’s embarrassing!

  5. wolfandfinch, I saw some beautiful darning recently on an antique cotton nightgown with some beautiful hand sewn patches to boot. Definitely a motivator for darning more. But if your mom is already your darning source, that sounds like a pretty good situation. Not so embarrassing just lucky.

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