Pattern of mistakes

Here is another tea stain pattern that is basically taking advantage of a mistake. The potential of "mistakes" is worth mining. In the 1970s my grandma sewed a red-and-white gingham blouse for me but forgot to preshrink the interfacing. The first time my mom washed the blouse, the placket shrunk to the point that grandma couldn't fix it. I still remember that blouse and the "mistake." Five years ago I started to explore texture in my textile work and remembered the red-and-white gingham blouse. OK, interfacing has come a long way in the past 30 years, so it took some super-sleuthing to find a brand that shrinks. It was well worth the hunt because the post-sewing and washing texture was spectacular. Keri Smith looks at cultivating mistakes in her books Mess and Wreck This Journal. Check them out and embrace the so-called mistakes in your life.