lovely flaws

The beauty of the homemade to me is that it is not perfect: the stitches might not always be roboticly stitched, the buttons, not completely evenly spaced, the buttonholes, perhaps a bit skiwampus. But it is stitched with love and those stitches tell a story. Time and thought and effort make the homemade important to us. The more time, thought and effort put into a project, the more we value it. The more story it tells to us. The less likely we are to easily discard the item. In the case of this shirt, I sewed it during the Christmas break. I made it up as I went along, completely pattern-free and unscripted. After sewing the first sleeves, I realized they were too short. So I added a band of dotted fabric then another band of red. And voila the perfect length. Somehow the time I spent thinking about this shirt and stitching it together endeared me to it. It's not likely to end up in the Salvation Army pile, and if a button falls off, it will definitely get sewn back on, not thrown out for lack of time. I think the more we sacrifice for something or someone, the more we love them. Enjoy all the lovely flaws of those dear to you...