Patching things up

One thing on my sewing list has been there for a while. Funnily enough I ended up not even using my sewing machine to fix it! The item I'm talking about is a pair of Sammy's bike shorts. Mountain biking is a pretty big part of Sammy's life and to be without one pair of bike shorts was a big deal even though he has four other pairs - not kidding! The problem with the shorts was a huge tear in the seat and another smaller hole above it.

The shredded shorts.

A closer look at the tear.

The origin of the rip is still be debated. Sammy thinks the washing machine caused it all. I think he fell and ripped them slightly and the washing machine just made it worse. I guess we'll never know.

The rip looks really big but when I finally looked at it closely it really wasn't that bad. It just had frayed a lot. The first thing I did was loosely close it up with a needle and thread. This helped hold it together while I figured out the patch. These shorts will be used a lot so I knew I wanted something that would stick and hold on. Enter the iron-on patch. I found brown twill iron-on patches at Joann's. I think it was $3 for two.

The patch.

I always read the directions and I'm glad I did for this. It said check the type of fabric and make sure that it can withstand the heat of an iron on the cotton setting (high). Well, these shorts are 48% cotton and 52% polyester. Polyester the material that melts under high temperatures. Eek! Furious googling ensued and I couldn't find much. Since it is a 50/50 blend it could take higher heat than just polyester but no one said anything specifically enough for me to be sure that I could use the patch. I finally just asked Sammy if it was OK that I might potentially burn his shorts. I told it would be the best way to fix them but I did have other "no chance of burning things" options. He said go for it. So I did.

I decided though to turn the iron down by one click and to move it around more frequently than the directions called for. There was never any burning smell or melted looking fabric but I'm not sure if it would work with a higher percentage of polyester. Here's the final result:

All fixed up and ready for riding!

I could make it extra secure by sewing it but I'm leaving it for now. If it looks like its coming up then I'll sew it but until then they are ready for riding and this guys mountain bikes hard!

My guy on his bike out at Moab, UT.

Next up some frisbee!