The mend of the night is a bit trickier. Garter stitch and not just thin patches. I got the first hole mended, and did fine with duplicate stitches. I only had to ”make” one stitch from scratch. Next hole has more missing stitches so I haven’t decided if I should try duplicate stitching or just weave it closed in a regular darn.
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I think it makes a huge difference in what type of fabric the leggings are made of…the ones I prefer are like reinforced fabric! They are stretchy but they have a really strong diagonal weave…sort of like gore tex? I get them from Shapermint. So comfy and strong and reasonably priced. They have a gusset in the thigh area that allows the fabric to stretch better so you aren’t stretching a straight line…that makes a difference as well…
Also, not sure what you like to wear with your leggings, but chub rub shorts are a must if you don’t want to be hot or get chafing! I own every color and wear them under everything! If your leggings are thick enough, you could wear them together…
I sometimes will line the inside of my stretch denim jeans at the thigh to take the pressure off the fabric there…you do have to go seam to seam to hide the stitching in the seams…I use old t-shirts or an older pair of jeans…
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These pants are really begging to be retired- now the seat is going. I’m sorry, Martha, there’ve been cutbacks, you’re a depended on member of the team and I simply can’t accept your resignation. So to the mending supplies we go!
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I tend to designate the worst pair of jeans as sacrificial ones to patch all the others with.
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Sacrifice Martha!??
Just kidding, I’m being silly as we’re locked indoors all day due to very cold temps (-4 fahrenheit) and toddlers not mixing. (So there’s some bouncing off walls happening. lol)
I’m down to just 2 pairs of jeans- these ones that are a tad big so I can fit long john’s under them (and snack until the cows come home) and a “real” pair for leaving the house where someone might see me. 
Come Spring I’ll be retiring them for good and maybe pick up a replacement pair so I still have “play jeans” and “fit for company” ones.
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I saved a crotch today 
Not the prettiest mend, but the seam is closed and the tears are stitched together. It should hold for a bit at least.
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Well done! My jeans are jealous, they’re still in the mending basket.
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And no one better be looking that close at your crotch anyway! Very nice save.
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lol you guys crack me up!
Crotch-saving and sacrificial Martha…
I am going to mend a couple of my husband’s band t-shirts today…I wanted to turn them into rags but he nearly grabbed them out of my hands when I said that! He doesn’t wear them out (one of them is pretty rude now that he is in his 60’s and around students…), so I am just going to make them un-holy (sic)… 
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I have an ancient pair of sweatpants that really should be chucked- the elastic in the waist is giving out, and there’s a hole in the crotch seam. I wear them as PJ pants now and I can easily repair the hole. Now, if I can figure out how to deal with the waistband, I can prolong their life a bit before they end up getting cut up for rags. The waistband isn’t a single channel so I can’t thread a drawstring through it, but, I might be able to stitch some fabric over it to create a channel and then do a drawstring… I think that’s what I’ll do, now that I’ve thought of it!
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Sounds like a plan!
I found anotherhole in the rainbow socks pictured in the first post. Now I need to find suitable yarn and pry them out of my husbands grip long enough to mend them…
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I machine mended three of my husband’s t-shirts…they were not at all pretty, but he will just wear them to work out or do chores around the house.
I told him that if his grey t-shirt finds its way back into my sewing room, it will become a cushion cover…I could have made a t-shirt faster with all of the holes and thread bare areas to mend…he begrudgingly agreed…
Glad I did something today…
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Well done!
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I snap up all the worn out t shirts in the house. Best paint rags, ever! But we tend to wear plain shirts, not printed t-shirts so there’s always a good selection of colors for patching and making other things. I’ve done a few crocheted cat beds with t-shirt yarn.
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Yikes, I didn’t realize it had been so long since I’d been on here!I have one mend to share. The inner button on my wool cloak was tearing through. I found a piece of felted wool the same weight as my cloak, removed the button, and patched up the hole. It’s on the inside, so no one will ever see it. When I reattached the button, I sewed only through the patch so as not to weaken the original wool any further. The stitching is not pretty because I started out in whipstitch and then decided that was dumb and finished it in blanket stitch.
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I always like the look of visible mending! And a small patch like this will make wearing the coat so much more comfortable.
I’ve been wanting to handsew a patch on an oven mitt for months but never did it. When I was cutting fabric scraps the other day I put aside a square of fabric. I promise I’ll stitch it on tomorrow! It’s probably not much bigger than your patch, it will take no time at all.
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Functional is what matters!
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