We don’t live in a perfect world, so why expect that our clothing, our sewing and our refashion projects will be perfect?

In my book, a finished project has a few quirks and minor imperfections is far superior to the one that remains incomplete waiting for its ‘perfect’ moment to arrive – or sadder still, it never even got started.

Sometimes you just have to dive in and make something happen in order to move forward in an organic if unstructured way – a bit like the Sew it Again project itself!

I have learned some people worship neatness in the same way I value original randomness – and upcycling and refashion is not for those people. When Kristina arrived at the Textile Beat studio yesterday she knew her neat cautious approach was holding her back from playing fast and loose with the scissors. She just needed confidence to let go and try something new – and see what happened.

We found a cotton checked shirt in the stash that teamed with a dress in Lily’s exist pile. See photos below of how Kristina cut off the sleeves, opened them out and added them in under the arms to widen the shirt and shape it ready for a skirt extension added at the bottom. She replaced a few missing buttons (and creatively chose yellow, even though there were plenty of almost-matched grey ones available) and used a dress offcut to make the pocket. The photos below show something of the process and great end product!

Following on from this exercise with Kristina yesterday, I ran into Nina and her gorgeous young friends at Sol Bakery this morning – they complemented me on my dress (Sew 49) and I told them its story and about the Sew it Again project – and yay, now they are coming to a Restyle Sewing Party in the Textile Beat studio later in the month.