Today’s upcycle adds an extra row of buttons to create room in a double-breasted silk jacket and turns a cardigan into a skirt and scarf.

These garments may not be perfect couture but they’re wearable and workable. And as the quote from @Wisdomalive on Twitter said today: Imperfection is an essential ingredient in the pursuit of excellence.

This aligns with a New Scientist article (March 8) by Michael Bond about The Secrets of Success, which include adopting a growth mindset – the belief that abilities can be developed through dedication and practice and aren’t fixed by biology.

The article quotes research by United States’ psychologist Ellis Paul Torrance who followed the lives of several hundred creative achievers from high school into middle age. He noticed characteristics such as having a sense of purpose, the courage to be creative, delighting in deep thinking and feeling comfortable in a minority of one, rather than scholastic or technical abilities were what set them apart. Most important of all, he said, was falling in love with a dream and pursuing it with intensity.

My dream is to see creative, global change in the way we reuse natural fibres – and I’m pursuing that by demonstrating upcycling with intensity, every day this year with my Sew it Again campaign.

Today’s upcycle was an animal print cardigan turned into a skirt and scarf – the sleeves cut off and sewn together as scarf with cardigan body being shaped as an elastic-waist straight skirt. I simply expanded the beautifully tailored double-breasted silk jacket by adding another row of buttons (random ones, not purpose bought), enabling it to continue being worn when carrying a few extra kilos. Two garments bought separately from op shops, recreated for a second life as a suit.