Patching: a beginner's guide
Covering a hole with fabric, inside (hidden) or outside (on show).
- An inside patch sits behind the hole and is stitched down with rows across it.
- For jeans, a backing patch stitched in a grid works best for holes up to about 5 cm; bigger holes need an outside patch.
- Always check round the hole for thin fabric: pinch it, and if it feels like tissue, include it in the patch area.
- Patches on knits should reach about 2 cm beyond the hole.
Watch
How to Sew a Patch Onto Anything | Sew Anastasia (7:11)
By Sew Anastasia · Open on YouTube
Chosen from its title and channel: a 7-minute video from Sew Anastasia on the same topic as this guide. Embedded from YouTube with credit; we don't host it. It only loads when you press play.
All guides ›Patching
Sources
All checked 1 November 2026. We read these; we did not test the products ourselves.