Veni. Sutura. Vici.

Please enjoy my 100 words about relearning to sew last year and unlocking the joy of making and the radical act of mending.

Relearning to sew by making anti-COVID spreading face coverings was kind of perfect. So, I ended up making well over 100 last year! When I turned to my mending pile, my entire relationship with clothing changed.

The brand new machine sat downstairs — once promising, then taunting, then embarrassing. (Not because it’s branded Project Runway. I love Project Runway.)

I never had the hands for precision that Melissa, Gail, Lauren, and Nova did.

A stitch was always crooked, out of place, or missing. Straight lines, sigh, always evaded me.

And yet…

I had forgotten the joy of making a functional thing.

Perfection, you truly are the enemy of good. (Enough!)

The machine came out. Then, 100 masks.

Then the mending.

I fixed instead of shopped!

Fuck you, Fast Fashion!

I came. I sewed. I conquered.

Veni. Sutura. Vici.