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Now, you’ve seen a lot of my made works. You’ve seen a lot of the styles I work with. But now, I want to tell you one of my greatest mistakes in the design process.
I want you to understand that while, yes, my designs look AMAZING, they don’t come without mistakes.
A few weeks ago, from October 24, 2025, I created a pair of overalls that could be changed into a pair of pants whenever the wearer felt like it (left). I was so excited about these pants.
They stemmed from an idea of ultra-wide leg pants. They took FIVE pairs of pants that I repurposed for this project. I took one pair, cut them in two different places on each leg, and attached cut-outs from two other pairs of pants to add the the wideness of the legs.
Then, I took a pair of overalls that I never wore and cut them up to use them for this Frankenstein project. I added a zipper around the rim of the pants and attached the overalls part to the other side of the zipper to make it detachable.
Once they were done, I was pleasantly pleased. These had quickly become my favorite pair of pants. I wore them to class, to work, for errands, everywhere.
But then I got a little… overzealous.
See, each piece of the denim I added was a different shade. I wanted them to be cohesive, to look nice.
So, what did I do?
I went out and bought some bleach.
Now, I have experience staining pants with bleach, most often at home or at work, whenever I get to work with bleach. I think splatters of bleach on pants look so cool. Since I had experience, I knew what to do, but my impatience was my downfall.
I took the overalls out back onto the concrete patio and laid them out. I figured the best way to do this would be to dump enough bleach on them to soak them, wait just a little bit, then throw them in the wash on delicate to get the bleach out. And that’s what I did. The minute I saw the slight semblance of color change, I threw them in the washer on delicate. However, if you’ve worked with bleach before, you’ve probably realized my mistake faster than I did.
Do NOT soak fabric in bleach.
It will EAT the fabric.
Imagine my disappointment and heartbreak when the washer got done and I pulled out FOUR pieces instead of one.
I was on the verge of tears as I laid out the wet, torn, eaten, and utterly destroyed fabric. But, after a good cry, I started looking at the damage in more depth and testing the integrity of the remaining fabric to determine if I could fix the project or not.
I spent hours that night trying to fix the damage, adding patches, sewing up rips, and reinforcing the weaker fabric, but alas, the work was in vain when I chose to wear them to class the next day. With every movement that strained the fabric, I could hear it rip.
I was so distraught to have ruined such a special project, mostly because those were five pairs of pants that I didn’t wear. I didn’t have any more pants to sacrifice for a project.
Luckily, the entire project wasn’t in vain. I learned how to sew this pattern of pants without any guide or pattern. But the blueprint is now in my mind for whenever I’m ready to try again.
Don’t worry about making a mistake in your design process, reader. It happens. It sucks, but it happens. Imperfection is part of being human. Perfection is an impossible goal. Accept the chaos of life.
Sometimes we have to fail to learn what works and what doesn’t.
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