Mended the sleeve in my son’s favorite coat!

[u/sweetcaronia]

While I’m not new to sewing this is the most extensive repair I’ve ever attempted. When he brought it to me I originally thought about just hand stitching it closed from the outside but when I found a large “birthing hole” in the sleeve I knew I had to try to do my granny (a lifelong professional seamstress) proud, and do it right.

I was completely intimidated by the whole ordeal at first. I was worried about the material, unsure if a regular denim needle would even go through it. It did.

I also got to use my teflon foot for the first time ever, aaaaaand I finally got to bust open the pack of denim thread I bought last year when I thought I might try to take in some of my bigger jeans and never did.

When I got in there, there was a tangled mess of polyester strips all tied together and tacked to the batting. I had to cut it out so I’ve got my fingers crossed that it wasn’t functional.

Anyway, I am just pleased as punch with myself right now and wanted to share somewhere someone might get it. I can’t believe I actually did a semi-competent job on something I was totally unsure about an hour ago!

Process pictures included.

[u/QuietVariety6089]

Nice job! Tip for working on materials like this - try to use clips or only pin in the seam allowance - pin and needle marks in heavyier / outerwear fabrics sometimes show after the fact :)

[u/sweetcaronia → u/QuietVariety6089]

That is excellent advice. I use clips as often as possible but needed to match the old seam lines up because the fabric wasn’t cut evenly and I didn’t even think twice about damaging the outer layer. Will for sure remember this moving forward! Thank you, kind stranger! ❤️

[u/QuietVariety6089 → u/sweetcaronia]

Loved the pic of the 'octopus' inside btw :)