Crafty: Embroidered Flowers Hide Holes in Denim

When I got out my shorts to wear on a hot day I noticed there was a hole in the denim. Rather than relegate them to things I'd only wear around the house, I decided to mend the hole and disguise it using embroidery, which is apparently a fashionable thing to do this summer.

You can see the finished result in the photo, with an inset picture of the original hole.

Here's how I did it. First I cut out a small circle of other fabric to put behind the hole as a patch. Then I created a flower on the front of the shorts, around the edge of the hole, using what's called lazy daisy stitch. This is a type of chain stitch, and here's the basic instructions:

• Thread a needle with an embroidery silk in whatever colour you like. 
• Tie a knot at the bottom of the thread and bring the needle through the fabric where you want the base of one of the petals to be. 
• Pull the thread through so the knot is firmly against the back of the fabric.
• Make a loop of thread, then put the needle back into the fabric at the base of the petal close to where the thread emerged.
• Bring the needle up through the fabric at the top of the petal loop and make a tiny stitch to hold the loop in place.
• Do another petal next to the first, going round in a circle.

You can fill in the centre of the flower using tiny stitches, or make French knots if you are confident at sewing them.

After I'd mended and hidden the hole, I embroidered more flowers on my shorts to make it into more of a decorative pattern.

One of my resolutions this year was to blog about seasonal or witchy crafting every month. You could do a more witchy version of this decorative mending technique by embroidering pentacles, stars, or moon phase or goddess symbols instead of flowers - although flowers seemed seasonal enough for summertime.

There are more ideas for seasonal crafting in my book Pagan Portals - Rounding the Wheel of the Year.

Previous related posts on crafting
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2025/06/craft-magical-flower-art-from-greenoaks.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2025/03/craft-turning-coffee-tin-into-storage.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2025/05/witchy-craft-i-knitted-lucky-black-cat.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2025/02/craft-comfort-or-izzy-dolls-poppet.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2025/04/craft-slow-stitch-scraps-and-scents-egg.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2025/01/magical-craft-wheel-of-year-vision-board.html