This is just the type of problem the a-n blog is perfectly suited to answering…
(Either through readers joining in the debate, or just through the act of writing it down and reading it myself.)
I am faced with a decision between an aesthetic choice or a conceptual choice.
Which way do I go?
I could make “the perfect mend”… make the skirt as respectable as I can, hide its flaws, present something “nice” to the world. I can do this. The gingham is a forgiving fabric, I could make the mend imperceptible unless under very close scrutiny… I have the skill…
But…
It is the flaws that attracted me in the first place… the bad sewing, the torn hem, that great big hole cut out. The way it frays is beautiful. There is a softness and a humanity about it that I love… I see the people that have touched it. I don’t want to mend that away.
How could I present this garment in a way that retains the flaws, shows the loveliness of them… but answers that respectability issue…
Which way do I go?
Hmmm… either the mend has to be secret and perfect, or beautiful and obvious…
There is a gap in my thinking here that needs to be sorted out before I start work.
I know which would look better… but it’s a cop out.
I know which “thinks” better… but it looks rubbish.
I will want to embroider text after the mend… maybe the answer lies in that?
No, that’s not right either, because that feels like cheating. It has to be right all the way through, not just fixed with a few pretty words at the end.