Disguised Knee Patches Tutorial- Appliqued Pants - Attack the Stash!

My mother-in-law got these cordoroy pants for Firecracker a while back.  They've been a big hit, especially since they're sparkley.  In fact they've been such a big hit that she's nearly worn through the knees.  

I've been throwing around different ideas for patching them, but wasn't sure how to get my sewing machine up inside the legs.  Then I came across these directions for sewing appliques onto pants appliques, but Jamee on Homemaker.

The secret is to open up one of the side seams, and then resew it when you're done.  I opened up the outside of the legs because there wasn't as much stitching to pull out there.

Then I layed out my appliques on the legs.  I made these by tracing the stars onto the back of some Heat 'n Bond Lite, ironed that onto scraps of black cordoroy from some old pants of mine, and then pealing off the paper backing.  (Those same black cordoroy pants became part of quite a few projects that I will be blogging about, among them these appliqued shirts.)  I made the stars different sizes and had them going up one leg and down the other to disguise the fact they're really patches a bit.

Sew around the edge.  I just used a straight stitch because the Heat n' bond will keep it from unfraying very much and I thought a slight fray for these would be cute.  (Note...not using a zig zag stitch on these turned out to be a mistake.  If it's going on the knees, it will get a lot of wear...use a zig zag stitch or turn the sides under.)  If you don't want any fraying, you can go around the edges with Fray Check. 

Leave the tails long on both ends and you can pull them through the back and tie a knot rather than bunching up the visible stitching by going back and forth.

Then sew the side seams back up.  (Sorry no picture of this step, but it's easy enough to figure out.

And you're ready to play!  Or as is the case at our house...you're ready to go swing on your "monkey bed."