Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Wardrobe Refashion progress

I found a comment on a previous post asking me how my Wardrobe Refashioning project is going and I found myself going on and on in reply, so I'm just going to post the reply here instead. Plus I think it's something that I'm "learning how to grow" from, so it's pretty appropriate. So without further ado;

It's fun, frustrating, exhilarating, frustrating, ... seeing a patern here? I tend to jump in to projects in life and ignore encumbering details like patterns, directions, etc. LOL! I've made two not-so-great pieces, (shirt) and (skirt) and have tons of ideas for other clothes to make, but my big success was refashioning pants into shorts. That's right, the easiest possible refashion! (LOL) But I needed that success desperately! Right now I'm working on bike jackets from my hubby's old work coats, I'm almost ready to post about them!

The Wardrobe Refashion blog is really inspiring and there are lots of really talented people participating, and even some beginers like myself, so it's not completely degrading having to post such simple and amaturish pieces amongst the jewels! (And most of them are so darned skinny, of COURSE they're going to look good!) Just kidding...

It's really made me think about clothes as fabric and not the other way around. Does that make sense? I mean, so there's a bleach stain on the pants. So there's a busted zipper. In the garbage it goes? Or what else can we do with all the pieces that come to gether to make this one piece of clothing? I don't know if it counts as a refashion, but I dyed a polo tee a few days ago because of a bleach stain. Turned out great! A few months ago I would have thrown it out.

I don't have a lot of time to sew, but I do what I can in the evenings and each little success is helping to boost my confidence and I totally plan to renew my pledge after August.

I guess most of all, I'm learning to slow down, do it right, finish the project, and enjoy the success. That may sound strange since I just admitted how few projects I've actually finished, but it's affected other areas of my life. Like my current dilemma of all my embroidery floss skeins taking up my craft table. The old me would have shoved them out of the way and said I'd deal with them later but not gotten back to them for a few months because I'd recall how much work and frustration it was to lay them all out in order...Instead I'm dedicated to getting it done the right way this time and I'm not going to sacrifice my precious time later for one week of getting the job done now.

I think this really surprises my hubby most of all because I'm one that will just storm in and tear into a project without thinking about the consequences in other areas of my life. He's seeing that things really are changing this time. I used to say "I'm working on it, I realize such-and-such is a problem and I'm aware of it." But "being aware" is not "working." And I'm finally putting action behind my awareness.

I am grateful for Wardrobe Refashion because it provides accountability which is something I desperately need in my life! If I'm not accountable to anyone for anything, I'll just lie in bed all day! Seriously, it's just part of depression. I have great ideas and intentions, but if someone isn't counting on me, interested in my progress, etc, I get lazy and veg out. Accountability is powerful and I can't say enough about it!

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