We Can't All Be Perfect

As much as it pains me to say this, not everything I make is perfect. Or, perhaps more appropriately, not everything I make can be salvaged.

First Up:
My sewing has been stalled for the last few months because I wasn't sure how to save a dress, and I couldn't  just MOVE ON when there was a crisis at hand. I thought I had a way to fix it, but because I rushed too much when I was originally making it (I was on a deadline!), I kept finding things that needed to be fixed. Finally, when my mother came to visit, I threw it on my dress form and decided to wait before finally perfecting my dress that I've been waiting months to wear.

Alas, while it was hanging on the dress form, I noticed more and more mistakes. Except this time I know I can't fix them because I can't take it apart. It's jersey, and for some reason, I sewed it originally with a reinforced stitch. So not only would it take hours to take apart, but even if I managed it, it would leave gaping holes in the fabric. I could take it in everywhere, but then it would be a bit too tight. It's jersey, so it would stretch, but I think even jersey has its limits.

Laziness in lining up the waist.

Stretching of the waistband. Darts don't line up.

I don't even want to talk about these sleeves...

I'm now trying to decide what, if any of it, I can salvage. Surely I can do something with the fabric left in the skirt. And maybe I could do something with the top? I hate discarding it as I'm in love with the fabric, and I'm also hesitant to discard it because it would be my first true garment failure...



Secondly:
I've been working on this sweater for almost two months. It's coming along quite nicely except I decided I don't like it. It's meant to be an oversized sweater, but it doesn't even meet the top of my pants! Technically, if I pull it down, it goes to the length I'd prefer (about 5 inches lower), but when I let go it shrinks back up.

Furthermore, I hate the holes in it, which you can't really see from the pictures, but because I knit it with giant needles, it has holes in it. It's meant to be that way. It's a style. But I didn't care for them going in, and I don't know if I can get over them.

And lastly, it's rather bulky. If it was oversized, it would have been fine. But it's very fitted and cropped and so it just looks like I'm wearing a bulletproof vest.

Hmph.

I haven't blocked it yet, and since I'm new to knitting, I don't even know exactly what blocking does. Can this be fixed by blocking? Can it be saved at all?

I'm thinking I'll have to unravel it and start with something else. Maybe a cape.