#WIDN: patching jeans with crocheted lace

#WIDN What i'm doing now elisemade

i follow and admire so many amazing artists on instagram, so my feed is a constant source of inspiration for knitting, crochet, weaving, embroidery, hand-lettering, illustration, and more. the visual candy is so good and there is so much that sometimes (okay maybe a lot) it takes me down crazy art-overload time warps that i emerge from, wide-eyed and blinking, wondering where the hour went and why i haven't made anything yet.

but every once in a while, i come across a really cool idea that makes me put down my phone and run to my stash. this time, it was a post from lion brand yarn linking to a great blog tutorial showing how to use a bit of crocheted lace to patch holey jeans.

i gasped! it was exciting for two reasons: first, anyone that knows me knows that i'm desperately searching for any excuse to embellish things with yarn (#PutASweaterOnIt), and secondly, i recently taught myself to crochet so i loved the idea of playing around with some lace! having just patched a hole in the crotch my vintage 501s with some shibori embroidery, i knew a knee hole patch was the next step in their fibery customization.

the blog tutorial references and links to the original blog post that inspired her, and wow...talk about inspo!

www.crochiquenl.blogspot.nl holey jeans crochet lace patch

but, being stubborn and wanting to try my luck at a freehand pattern (and also admittedly not knowing how to read crochet patterns very well), i grabbed a 3.75mm hook and some variegated fingering-weight silk wool and just started going for it. 

crocheted silk wool doily lace by elise lopez

now bear with me, i don't really understand crochet patterns and have never written one, and there are certainly a million better doily patterns around (like here's one from the aforementioned blog post that's great) but i will try to explain my process as best i can. i started with a beginning chain of 4 stitches, joined in the round, and single-crocheted 6 stitches around the circle. marking my starting point with a bulb safety pin, i made a chain of 6 stitches and anchored it two circle stitches away, and repeated it twice more so there were 3 anchored chains around the inner circle. to start the next round, i anchored my yarn to the middle arch of the first loop with a single crochet stitch, and then increased the amount of chain stitches to 8, anchoring each in the middle of each prior 6-chain loop. as i went around the circle, i kept increasing the chain stitches by 2 and anchored them to the middle of the previous row. i just kind of kept going until the size of my lace stretched over the knee hole in my jeans.

it's important to note that you'll need to be wearing the jeans as you patch them, to ensure the patch and your stitches are properly placed and attached to withstand bending and stretching. i sat on the edge of my couch with my knee comfortably bent and attached the lace with some embroidery floss and a simple running stitch. 

crochet lace jean patch by elise lopez

i love the way it turned out! the pretty, neutral colors of the variegated silk wool i chose blend in nicely with the faded jeans, but i love the unexpected lacy, fishnet-like look. 

crochet lace jeans patch by elise lopez

will you try patching your jeans with some crocheted lace?