Mending knit pajama pants with a dinosaur applique, (patches) for the little ones!

This dinosaur wraps his tail around the back of the pajama leg and does the job!

I must admit to having put my thinking cap on for this one.  When one of the little boys put his knee through a perfectly good pair of pajama bottoms I didn't want to just mend them and wind up with a knotty seam that would not only look bad but would be uncomfortable.

The knit pants are a black background with green dinosaurs tromping through every which way.  I dug into my treasure trove of fabric and found a green velour knit that was nice and heavy and stretchy.

The first step was to insert a plain half sheet of paper into the pant leg and trace the relaxed size and shape of the hole to be sure I would allow a big enough applique to cover the gap.

Next I sketched a dinosaur like the ones already on the pajamas large enough to allow the finished patch to cover the tear.  Then I added enough seam allowance to be able to turn under the raw edges.

I flipped the dinosaur over so he would not be backwards, then traced him with a charcoal pencil before I started cutting.

I still added more on thinking it is always easier to trim excess off but you cannot add more fabric on if short in a spot.

For this project I decided to try using a fabric glue stick to adhere the turned under edges and then I pinned my replica over the hole.

Velor is very forgiving and I simply overcast stitched him on and then put an eye on with a French knot then trimmed his back with a chain stitch using embroidery floss.  Seems like it took most of the day but I think he looks presentable.  Surely enough so for a 4 year old anyway.  Plus there was all of that extra love I stitched into the repair!

Gosh, I am thinking really hard about going back with my "glow in the dark" thread and outlining this dinosaur!  My fingers are too sore right now but we will see.....Isn't glow in the dark thread a neat thing?   I found it online at Sublime Stitching about a year ago and sent off for it.  Way cool in my book.