This is love . . .

My husband's love for his jeans . .  .

And my love for him (otherwise I would never have spent the 4+ hours repairing these jeans - the ones sitting on my craft table are worse yet!)

As you can see - thread color is key.  Will was in desperate need to get his "lucky jeans" fixed in time for a plant trial so I used what I had laying around.  It's really better to take the jeans to the store and match thread to the faded and blue parts of the jeans.  Below are the 2 techniques I have tried:

• Use a zig-zag stitch that has the stitch length shortened to just above a satin stitch and sew down and back over the tear (using the forward/reverse button on your machine).  I use a piece of scrap denim on the inside of the pant leg as a "reverse patch".  It adds some structural integrity back to a worn knee.
• Use the darning foot (with the feed dogs down) and a zig-zag stitch.  This method is much faster, although it took me a little while to get consistent results (it's kind of like free-motion quilting).  You also need a piece of scrap denim for this method.  I would also recommend buying more thread than you think you'll need.  For Will's jeans alone I've gone through 4 spools of thread!  

If you start fixing jeans (or other pants) beware - it's an in demand skill.  I've had jeans shipped to me from my sister, Dad, and even interoffice mail from co-workers!   (People really love their jeans!)