Holey Clothes

Why is he busting the knees like that? Is he a construction worker or a caver? :-) Patching would work. You could always try a "Scout store" because they have a lot of patches of various kinds. Call a fabric store too.

You can find jeans without holes at a second hand store for about 2$ or you can go to a fabric store and buy patches

I know that in the craft department of most stores, like WalMart or Target, has the iron on patches, and I have seen several in spiffy designs. Anywhere that they sell fabric or craft supplies should have them too. They just iron on, and seem to hold very well.

I always find clothes at the thrift stores, you can't even tell they're used. If you insist on new I think Sears has some kind of program where if the jeans wear out and your child is still wearing the same size, they'll replace them so you could look into that. I would think you could find patches at any kind of fabric or hobby store.

Go to the local Thriftstore or Good Will and buy a pair of $1 jeans. Cut them up to make knee patches for your son's jeans.

Either that, or buy him jeans from there - I still find jeans for my son at the Thriftstore - some brand new, but never more than $5 for the new ones.

:)

Michael's has some cute patches for boys

Just remembered I was given this info from someone from Freecycle--but you'd really need to get there soon--it's only for another 54 minutes....

FREE - Clothing (infant-adult)/ household/toys Giveaway event at First
Baptist Church in Downers Grove. Friday, Sept. 30 @ 6:00-8:00pmSat,
Oct. 1 @ 9:00-11:00am Parking: Park at the lot on the corner of Maple
and Washington. Entrance is located on the west side of the church
(alley by the Lincoln Park District center)

ETA: A kids' consignment store in downtown Westmont just opened. I think it is called Sweet Pea. They specialize in higher-end kids' clothes. Might be a good option for you, and you could possibly sell some of your own to help defray the cost.

I'd patch them with something when you first get them. I remember my mom putting iron on patches inside of our jeans when we were little.

Watch freecycle.... we get bunches of clothes for our almost 4 yr old grandson off freecycle... It is a great resource!

And.... start saving the "good" pants for times he needs to be neat... holey jeans are just fine for playing in... little boys look cute in jeans with holey knees! I remember growing up and having "school clothes" and "play clothes" ... when I got home, sometimes we had to change out of the school clothes into play clothes. (Of course, that was way back in the 'olden days' when girls HAD to wear dresses to school!)

Also... when you get jeans without holes in the knees, you can always put an iron on patch on the knees BEFORE he starts wearing them... that way, there is an extra layer for him to have.

Garage sales can be a great resource for low-cost play clothes, also....

Put extra strong fabric on the inside of the knees using Heat and Bond.

Wash the new fabric and the pants in as hot of water as they will ever be washed. I do wash our on how water occasionally due to stains. Maybe once or twice per year. It doesn't hurt them, just shrinks them more if they are new. Do not add anything that softens the fabric to the wash, rinse, or in the dryer. It will cause the Heat and Bond to not stick. They coat the fibers of the fabric with a substance.

Once the fabric and jeans are dry, 100% dry, then turn the jeans inside out. Cut a big square of the fabric and put the heat and bond on one side or the other of the fabric. If you are patching a hole then I would use the heat and bond on the right side so that would show through the hole. Anyway, then peel off the paper and iron it onto the inside of the knee of the jeans.

This will strengthen the knee and help it to not be so easy to tear up.

I'm not sure where you are buying your son's clothes, but if you buy them at Sears and they wear out but still fit, the store will replace them, which helps tremendously.

I have not done this in awhile, but when my daughter was younger, I bought most of her clothes there and took back tons of stuff so I know it worked at least three years ago.

I took things like pants, shirts and even a winter coat when the zipper broke.

The craft stores sell oval-shaped iron on patches just for that. You might have to sew down the edges later if they curl up. Or just cut them off and convert them into shorts?

At the end of last winter.. my son had 2 pairs of pants and 12 shirts. All ofher pants had been thrown out due to holes in the knees. I am sure he put holes in 8 pairs of pants last winter..

My tips.. Levis.. jeans are very thick demin and hold up better than any brand I have seen.

buy used jeans at the thrift store or mom to mom sales or garage sales. these are boys jeans.. they dont need to be fancy just pants for hte boy to ruin. I bought my son lots of used pants for this year.. if he ruins them.. no big deal. I found 3 pair of used Levis.. that was great.

patch the inside of the knees..

We do iron-on patches from JoAnn Fabrics for my boy who has this same affliction (and it's always his right knee...never the left). They have some pretty cool patches. We've gotten flames, camo, and regular jean-colored. I've also started sewing my own patches on because the iron-on ones can peel over time and if you wash the jeans in hot water, the iron-on patches do have a tendency to peel off as well--as I just learned this weekend for the first time on a brand-new patch that I had just put on 4 days ago...arrrrgggghhhh!!

Unfortunately, this is one of the side effects of boys being boys (or girls being ok with getting dirty--which is a good thing!) and there's not much you can do to stop the behavior. While it annoys me as the grown-up, the kid in me remembers how much fun I had that usually led to torn jeans when I was his age :)

My son wears clothes HARD. The only way I found to keep him in his clothes was to buy expensive, well made, clothes to begin with. Ended up saving TONS, since he could wear them until he grew out of them.

HINT if you buy from the store I'm about to link, only buy ONE item. Once you've bought from them you get on their list for the sales the run all year. Buy 3 get 1 for $1 + free shipping/returns is my favorite sale and it runs 3-4 times a year. The also have 20% off, and others, but the first one is my fav.

http://www.bodenusa.com/en-US/Mini-Boden-Clothing.html?sc...

Shop at Sears! Decent prices and with their Kidvantage club you get money back AND a wear out guarantee. If they wear out before your kid outgrows them they will replace them with the same or similar item in the same size. Just have to hang on to your receipts (i keep mine in an envelope or file folder).
http://www.mysears.com/kidvantage/details.html

First thing I thought was to bring your son to Joann Fabrics and have him pick out a few patches that he likes then iron them on.

Check out thrift stores, if you have some in your area. Thrift-store shopping is a little like gold-mining - you have to move a lot of dirt to find a little bit of gold. But many kids grow out of their clothes before they wear them out, and the prices are very good.

I am helpless on a sewing machine, but when my boys were little I would sometimes take some worn-out pants, cut out good fabric pieces that were about knee size, and sew them by hand onto the *inside* of the knee areas of the good play pants, where they didn't show (the stitching show did a bit). That gave them an extra layer at the knees, and the pants lasted at least a little bit longer. I used some of that iron-on stuff to keep the patch edges from raveling. Just something to think about (or laugh about).

Once Upon a Child - the best store EVER!

I've been here, for sure! Someone else already mentioned but Sears has a brand you can buy that if your child wears them out before they outgrown them they do replace them for free. Also, I found that the Levi's brand from JcPenny holds up really well. I don't get any fancy washes as those seem to be a little more thin. I've also put patches on the inside of the pant leg as well. It's getting cooler so the Old Navy fleece pants seemed to hold up for my son as well.

Freecycle is great but you have to watch closely to get what you need.

Patches are not too hard either. You can get iron on ones in the fabric store or sometimes even the grocery store for plain ones. If you can get the patch on before the fabric rips that is even better. If you have a rip already then hand or machine sew some scrap denim or other heavy fabric on the inside then iron on the patch on the front. Iron on patches stay on better if you hand sew around the edges. You can get plain or decorative patches at the fabric or craft store. I think at 4 my son had fire truck and space ship jeans. Also if you want to get something more interesting then get some fun fabric and ask at a fabric store for the stuff to make fabric into an iron on (they keep it with the interfacing). You can get a piece of the iron on stuff with some paper on one side. You iron it to the fabric with the paper on then remove the paper and iron the other side to the pants (like other iron ons they last better if you hand sew the edges). You can cut out all kinds of fun shapes if you want to get creative. I have made some great decorated jeans this way for my whole family (even my husband). You can send me a PM if my instructions aren't clear.

Every week in the newspaper or online there is a coupon for 40% off one item at Michaels. You can also get the Michael's app if you have an iPhone or a Droid. They also mail 40% off coupons for JoAnn Fabrics if you get on their mailing list.

Use the 40% off coupon to buy patches at Michael's or JoAnn. They aren't that expensive to begin with, and with the 40% off coupon you can get them very cheap! They make them in all shapes and sizes. I have found that ironing them on doesn't always work, you often need to iron on and then sew down the edges.

Also, there's a store downtown Geneva called "Good Cents" and it's a used children's clothing store. I get all my daughter's clothing from there! They take gently used (and sometimes new) name brands. We got her jeans this year for $4-10 each! Nice name brands. All the Once Upon A Child stores closed around me :(

My 4 year old was extremely active and hard on shoes and clothes.
For every pair of pants I bought, I made sure I had good, heavy iron on patches. Turn the pants inside out and iron the patch right on the knee area of the pants. I did this for blue jeans, his khakis he wore to school and the cords he wore to church.

I also second the info about Sears and children's clothes. That program is excellent and the clothes are good quality and were affordable.

Also, find a good resale shop in your area.

I dont' know a think about sewing, or where to find cool patches. But I do know that Sears will replace any of their kids clothes(certain brand) if they wear out before your kids outgrown them. I think the brand is TSK or TKS....

On new pants, put patches on the INSIDE of the legs as soon as you buy them. They'll look better and be tougher!

I remember my oldest son being super hard on knees as well. I was able to find denim and khaki patches made for just that thing that iron on ( from inside) the pant leg that helped. I also did get creative and to make them look like it had been done on purpose would save old clothes to make cuter patches, I liked using plaid patches from old flannel shirts ( looked cute on a little boy) and also courderoy holds up well and looks cute. Sometimes I would also give them matching cuffs...made my generic boy clothes look like osh kosh b'gosh name brands, even though I was just trying to make his clothing last a little longer = )

Sears Kidvantage-- Sears will replace with a new pair of the same kind/same size with receipt if they are worn out before the child grows out of them.
Garage sales
Goodwill/Thrift Stores
patches at Walmart cost less than $2 for two nice size patches. Look in the sewing section in Notions, they are iron on but I also sew them on.

How about getting the iron on patches and putting them on the inside of the jeans when they are new to make them more durable...just a thought. Seems like it would work! Good luck.