It goes without saying that we are living in the strangest of times. The Coronavirus pandemic has the luckiest among us at home, with family and copious (and blessed!) internet access. While some folks are working harder than ever without the benefit of a commute to break the grind, others have unprecedented levels of time on our hands. One small way I have felt productive has been to finally look that second tier clothing ‘to do’ pile squarely in the eye and tackle it.

I’m not talking about couture-level reinvention of a beloved vintage blazer; I’ll leave something like that to the pros or rad home sewers among you to make that happen. (Actually, one of my Stay at Home goals is to learn to work my grandmother-in-law’s vintage Pfaff sewing machine, and I have some give away garments to sacrifice in the pursuit. Now that I’ve said it out loud, I’ll HAVE to follow through.)

What I’m talking about is sewing on missing buttons, darning socks, repairing split seams, even cropping clothes to a desired length. (Click here and here for specifics.) Here’s the thing; right now, whether you’ve taken the time to go through your closet and do a clean sweep of what you have to give away (sidebar, hold on to your give away items for now; Goodwill and such are not taking donations at present) or whether you are simply noticing that you’re doing an Old West Stare Down with certain garments because they BUG you or whatever the 1,001 reasons are…I challenge you to take action with even ONE piece you’re willing to screw up and see if you can’t make it into something you enjoy. Even if you only learn to sew on your own buttons, you’ll be in the plus category.

Yes, I am a perfectionist in many ways. (I mean, who becomes a stylist and wardrobe organizer if they don’t have some level of OCD going on?) But I am also a devoted Taker of Short Cuts. I know what kind of imperfection I can live with and what I can sacrifice if it goes sideways. If I sew on a button to make a shirt wearable and it is not EXACTLY the same button as the rest but no one – not even I – will notice a tiny distinction in the pearlized quality or the number of holes, I’m cool with that button. A wearable shirt I otherwise like is more valuable to me than a perfect shirt (especially these days).

Likewise, when cutting the leg of a pair of jeans, I know that if I botch the job to a degree, I will be able to get it sewn properly later. I simply bear in mind leaving some wiggle room in case of the latter, which also renders my inexpert handiwork ‘Good Enough for Now’.

Know what I’m trying next? Overdyeing some blue scraps grey to sew patches for a favorite, inexpensive pair of now ridiculously ripped black jeans. (I am forever putting my foot through a knee hole when jumping into them. Note to self; slow down! If not now, when?) If the dye doesn’t pan out how I imagine, so be it. If the patches have visible mending, that’s fine too. (Have you heard about this trend?) I can always use my grand-MIL’s seam ripper to disentangle them and go to a place like this when we are back to life outside the home for a professional job.

Whatever small project you decide to take on, I hope that there is a small emotional downside to the worst version of it coming to pass. I know that I have a deeply renewed appreciation and perspective around the ease of life and what constitutes ‘a disaster’ these days. Hand-mended jeans, it isn’t.

- Stephanie

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