Embroidery is what you want it to be

I returned to stitching in 2025 after at least a decade of passing it over. I would love to tell you it was like slipping into a pair of familiar shoes, but it was more like walking in the rain in a pair of cheap flip flops. Awkward, bordering on demoralizing. But the fact that I still kept picking it up every day was a promising sign, and I finally got over my resistance to doing things by the book.

Maybe I was afraid I would feel dumb, or not creative enough. Or worse, that I was actually doing things correctly and it was actually my [clumsy hands/bad vision/poor coordination].

But it actually didn’t make me feel dumb, or uncreative, because it taught me a few things:

• My frustrations were common challenges due to a lack of knowledge, not my inherent failure as an artist

• The silliest, smallest detail can seriously mess up your project

• Embroidery is even more interesting, fun, and diverse than I anticipated

• Practice includes failure, and failure isn’t personal

• There is no arbiter that determines if a technique is right or wrong, or that keeps you from inventing your own

Ok, it taught me lots of stuff. And there is no sense in keeping it to myself, especially since I owe much to the resources that creators and organizations offer beginning embroidery artists. So I’m sharing it here, and in my newsletter, and wherever else will have me.

Learn embroidery with me!