Sewing without worrying too much

I'm trying out an idea for a new jacket today. Choosing the fabric for a garment at this stage is always tricky. It needs to not be too precious so I can cut it up a bit, but when it's finished it has to be wearable so I can road test it.
This creamy linen mix is left over from another project and there's plenty of it so I won't need extra time to cut and splice bits together. And I'll probably machine dye it (with an increasingly guilty concience) so it can slip sideways into my wardrobe!