Monster Knee Patch

One of the first things I made from my collection of Pinterest items was this awesome knee patch. I must admit that I was super excited when my little boy finally got a hole in the knee of his pants so that I could try this out! 

The first thing I discovered was that this project would be much easier on a pair of trousers that have a wider leg than those of a size 2 toddler. I had a lot of fun making it and it cost me nothing as I was able to find everything I needed from my drawer of fabric scraps. However, I did curse this little monster quite a bit as I was trying to fit the tiny narrow leg through the bottom of the sewing machine (hence why this project would be much better suited for slightly bigger kids). 

The link for this from my Pinterest board takes you here:

http://refashionco-op.blogspot.co.nz/2011/11/cute-fix-for-hole-in-knee-of-jeans.html

Clicking through to the link made me realise that I never did actually click through to the link when I made my version of the monster knee patch... Clearly I was so excited to get started that I just looked at the photo and went for it. I might as well admit now that I often jump into projects without thinking it all the way through (or actually reading the tutorial as the case may be). 

I would definitely use this project to patch holes in my little guy's clothes again, but there are a few things I would do differently. For this monster I just used what I could find in my fabric scraps drawer (which was: thick red polar fleece for the mouth, thick black polar fleece for the eyes, and white quilt batting for the teeth). The eyes are fine, and the red of the mouth is lasting better than I expected, but the teeth are starting to come apart a bit. I would probably use a stiffer fabric for the mouth next time (or back the polar fleece with something) and I would use felt, polar fleece, or some other non-fraying fabric for the teeth. I knew that the batting was not the best thing to use for the teeth, but I am impatient and at the time I didn't have anything else white that would work - also, I wasn't worried about it lasting for too long as my guy is currently growing out of his clothes well before he gets a chance to wear them out (hence why I was so excited when he actually wore a hole in something).

My little guy & his monster.