Do You Test Drive Your "Finished" Objects?

(Shhh! Them seams are unfinished!)

I'm running out the door this morning in my "finished" Colette Patterns Rooibos in denim, one of my summer essentials. I'll post more on the construction process later—I had a number of minor alterations though I absolutely adore this pattern, even moreso now that it's made up. I could have a dozen of these.

From the outside, it's not bad, eh? But a peak inside reveals unraveling denim, unfinished seams, an invsible zipper not properly tacked and a gazillion pieces of thread from the construction process. Really, it's enough to drive a proper seamstress crazy.

So why on earth would I wear it out into the world, especially given the fact that I'm the kind of person who worships the finished object so I can move onto the next project? (Just get 'er done!) Well, I'm finally realizing that there's a few things that only become clear to me while wearing and I sometimes find myself filled with regret knowing I've, say, serged off the edges or cut that hem too short. And sometimes it takes a few wears to figure it all out. But it still feels strange to know that rogue threads could dip below the hem or that zipper tape is going to shimmy out of its place. Eek!

But what about you? Do you ever wear your nearly finished objects out into the world? Or perhaps the better question is: How do you know a project is really finished?

Well, I'm off, folks. Let's see how this dress holds up through six miles of biking and long day at the office :)