Should I put a patch on DS's trousers?

[Aiguablava]

Son is two years old and is always rolling around on the ground in the park, crawing on his knees to push is cars around etc and he is wearing away the knees in his trousers. One set of trousers now has a hole in the knee that probably won't last long if its stitched back up again so I was considering putting a patch on. Apart from the hole in the knee they are in good condition and I'm reluctant to throw them away because at this rate we'll be going through 100 pairs of trousers per year. I was thinking to path them up and keep them as trousers for the park so he have fun in them and we can keep other pairs in good condition and not all of them get destroyed.

His dad thinks having patched trousers will make him look like Oliver Twist and people will think we and really hard up and shouldn't have had a kid if we can't give him decent clothes. Ultimitely he is worried that people will talk about us and think we are weirdos. I don't think I've ever seen a child running around in patched up trousers so I was thinking that maybe it just isn't the done thing and I should just get some new trousers for the bairn.

For the park I don’t think it matters. I’d probably patch both knees though so it looks more intentional!

You can buy expensive children’s clothes with contrasting interestingly shaped patches on the knees (and often other parts too) from new, so if you do that I think people will assume it is meant to be that way. If you darn the hole traditionally by drawing across or trying to match the fabric invisibly I think it will look like a mend, but I doubt anyone would care - nearly everyone with a child will have had worn out knees in their clothes at some point.

Vote for patching here
It’s sweet on little ones, and very green - if you think anyone is poverty judging ( and care about such shallow thoughts ) going for the green option surely places you way up on the moral high ground.
Pockets and decorative sewn on badges from other old clothes are often thick and quite decorative- I did it loads and still do. Mine was a knee boy too and at one stage could do a knee same day the item was new on. ( I think pushing toy cars around the floor was the main culprit)

Just a tip but I used to open up the inner leg seam and machine stitch a contrast patch right across the front of the leg then resew the leg seam . Much easier than faffing around inside a small trouser leg .
I used to make patches from the really old trousers that were grown out of.

I had no idea you could buy ready made patches. I was just going to do it the old fashioned way and cut up an old tshirt or something I could find that we don't need anymore. Glad to see people think its a good idea.

Patch them, and defo buy the ready made ones, they are much thicker. When I used an old t-shirt it was useless within a day of being worn.

Plenty of trousers come with decorative patches these days, you won't even notice it's been done as a repair.

This kind of thing looks more decorative than obvious repair:

www.amazon.co.uk/GOTONE-Embroidered-Assorted-Decoration-Backpacks/dp/B08D7KK7NK/ref=pd_sbs_79_5/262-8120457-6367038?psc=1&pf_rd_p=4fd38ebe-c6e0-49c6-9586-ee7ede565afb&_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_wg=sYLmr&pf_rd_r=Q2C6N5VB9KEE8WVVX5YV&pd_rd_i=B08D7KK7NK&pd_rd_w=erfl1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&refRID=Q2C6N5VB9KEE8WVVX5YV&pd_rd_r=3b127b77-c6d1-41df-b28b-746e907484cd

When dd was about 3 she wouldn't wear trousers that were plain, I ended up sewing little patches on the pockets/ knees and so on. So cute. hedgepig

Do it, you can get Minion/Paw Patrol whatever your DS is into, and you can iron them on. My DS used to love his 'minion trousers'!

Trust me, it's the fashion amongst the rich country lifestyle set to let their kids go to rack and ruin. They are in mismatched things that are on their fourth hand-me-down, dragged through a hedge backwards and knee deep in mud. All shows what a relaxed lifestyle you have, don't you know?

Nobody is going to think you are hard-up over a patch with ^ that going on.

I did it when my ds was that age. Most of his trousers were patched up. I bought iron on ones, and no one said anything, and I couldn't careless if they did.

I think patching’s brilliant.

When my little brother was young he’d always go through the knees of his trousers, and my mum wasn’t very confident in her sewing skills, so she bought loads of iron on patches from Woolworth’s and ironed them on to the inside of new trousers. The old, holey or torn ones, she’d sometimes turn into shorts.

Nowadays everyone should be thinking of the environment, and I bet there are much better patches available. I bet there are loads of ideas on Pinterest.

I patched my toddlers’ clothes all the time. One of mine in particular was murder on knees. We had loads of colourful patches on his clothes.

Patch definitely my ds used to wreck his school trousers

Yep, and for people who don't like / can't sew, you can get that web stuff meant for hemming. Just iron it on.

I patch all my kids clothes. Sometimes taking off old patches that have worn through and putting on new ones. I don't get why you wouldn't (assuming you can sew) - it's ridiculously wasteful to throw away an otherwise good pair of trousers. There's an immense amount of water and resources that goes into producing even a child's pair of jeans.

I'd patch with a really bright interesting patch so it looks designed that way!

Yes! Make the patches cute shapes - two stars on the knee or something. 🙂
It'll save so much going to landfill.

Another vote for going for it OP. And absolutely make it stand out, do both knees in a contrast colour. When they get too short make faux turn-ups to match. Upcycle the life out of them.

You can tell your DH there is a thing these days called Visible Mending where people who are fed up of waste repair their clothes in such a way that the mended part actually enhances the clothing. Patches are therefore very cool and sustainable.

www.google.co.uk/search?q=visible+mending&client=safari&hl=en-gb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi4u5SuhJzuAhUITxUIHb6sDEIQ_AUoAXoECBEQAw&biw=1261&bih=829&dpr=2

When I was little, my dm used to remove the pockets from the bum of my trousers and patch the knees with them. It looked really good!

My DM used to patch our trouser knees when they were new, so we wore out the patch and not the trouser!

There is a whole world of patching that is new fo me. I like the idea of putting the patches on new trousers so the matches get worn and not the trousers.
Some of these ideas go well beyond my sewing abilities though.

I patch all of my children’s clothes when needed. Why wouldn’t you?. I’d advise patching inside and out as the threads can be uncomfortable on little knees.