Is good enough really good enough?

This dress is representative of  a particular category of clothing in my wardrobe. This category contains clothes that I wear, and even wear often, that have elements that work well for me but also have some serious problems.

You might call this type of clothing 'good enough, but not great.'  If I were rating my clothing on a scale from one to ten, these items would be the sixes, sevens and eights. The overall shape of this dress works for me but the skirt is too short for my liking. I like the bold floral print but the fabric is a bit thin. I can get into the dress but the bodice doesn't fit me correctly and doesn't even cover my underwear. I can only wear this dress with a sweater or a jacket on top. Even with all its limitations I've worn this dress quite often. Certainly often enough to know that I like the style and I'd love to own a dress like this that fits me well and in which I'd feel comfortable taking off my sweater in public.

 
In an ideal world, of course, all my garments would be tens, and I hope that blogging will help get me closer to that point. But for the present I have to be pragmatic and accept that if I'm not wearing less than perfect clothing I'm not going to be left with much to wear. The most effective course of action I can adopt in the future is not to acquire any more clothing that isn't perfect. But, to be fair, this dress was a five dollar thrift store purchase and I do wear it.

And therein lies the big question: is good enough to get by really good enough? And should the cost make the answer different? After all, only you and I know it was a bargain, to the rest of the world it's just an ill fitting dress. Is it conceivable that I don't yet own a dress that fits me perfectly because I own several of these poorly fitting ones? I don't like to think of myself as someone who settles for substandard anything, but my wardrobe is clearly telling a different story about what I'm willing to accept.

The biggest issue for me is fit. Even when I was much slimmer my chest was hugely out of proportion when compared to most ready to wear clothing. And now- the thought of finding a jacket that actually buttons seems an impossible dream. I'd like to start developing a wardrobe that is more chic and tailored but I think that probably means I'll have to do more sewing.

If I were to recreate and perfect this dress I'd give it a correctly fitting bodice (duh!), a wider bra strap concealing strap, and a hem at the more lady like just-below-the-knee length.