Monster Patch for Jeans - KCWC Day 1

I know I said the next post would be about Monster Cut-Out Cupcakes...but then I realized that it's Kids Clothes Week Challenge (KCWC) this week...so I changed my plans a bit.  I promise the Monster Cupcakes will be coming soon...but perhaps not until next week.  I'll also be honest that I did not actually make these pants this week...but I'm always a week or so behind posting projects as I wait to get pictures and things...but I have made 3 pairs of kids pant, two new shirts for Anson, and a tie for dad in the last couple days, and as soon as I get off the computer, Katie and I are going to make a shirt for her.  You'll get to see all that soon too.

I saw these Monster Patches last year on Mimi and the Boy.  Those adorable patches were made for Seth's half-brother, and I filed the idea away for Seth.  I finally got around to making Seth some of his own.

He loves them.  (And note we're making headway on our mudroom...)

It's turned plain jeans into jeans that are fun to wear to kindergarten.

And Seth can even make the monster's face.

I meant to take more process pictures...but I must have been on a roll that night because this is the only one I took, so you might want to take a look at Sarah's tutorial.

I did a few things differently though.  Instead of felt, I used t-shirt scraps...my go-to for bright fabric for most crafts these days.  You don't have to worry about raw edges unraveling and knits don't pill in the wash the way that felt does.

• I chose a green fabric for the main patch which ended up being the inside of the mouth.
• The tongue and teeth are double layers of T-shirt scraps with Heat'n Bond inbetween.  Then I sewed around the raw edges to make them more durable.
• Sewed buttons on for the eyes.
• Zigzag stitched the whole patch onto the jeans.  These jeans started out with just a tiny hole I cut bigger, so the fabric I was sewing to was not very worn.  If the fabric around the edges of your hole is pretty worn, you'll want to sew again farther out to make sure the patch holds.
• I sewed the tongue so it was sticking straight up and then hand stitched just a little under the tongue to make it stay down...if that makes sense.
• The main secret you NEED TO KNOW is the way to get your machine in to work on a patch or jeans embellishment is that you use a seam ripper to open up the side seam, do your work with your machine, and then re-sew the side seam.

Boys will love these patches any time of year...but with Halloween coming up, it's even better.  I think a girly monster knee could be cute too.
And if you're a monster lover, thanks to a collaboration between me and Nicola from nJoy Art on tomorrow's project, Helping Little Hands readers can get FREE shipping on any order from nJoy Art through the end of October by entering NOSHIPNJOY at checkout.  Nicola has lots of original paintings and prints for the whole family, and her monster artwork is especially adorable.

 4 LITTLE MONSTERS No.3, Four 5x5 acrylic canvases

Or if you're looking for a different kind of patch, you can check out this knee patch tutorial I wrote a couple years ago.

And if you're looking for projects to join in on the Kids Clothes Week Challenge, there are a lot of ideas and tons of free patterns on my Hand-Me-Down REHAB (aka how to make cute clothes on the cheap) Page.

Please show my sponsors some love...

Monster Pair Original Painting from nJoy Art	Faith in God Makes Me Stronger from Shirleen Bland's Art Studio	Personalized Transportation Collage from nJoy Art

I'll be linking to: