Recently on several groups I take part in, there are questions over and over about fear of being wrong when they stitch. I want to reiterate my position here.
If you like the result of your stitching, then it is not done wrong.
OK class, repeat after me:
“There is no right or wrong in embroidery/cross stitch/needlework. There are only tips to make it look the way YOU want it to look.”
Yes, you can learn new techniques. A teacher may tell you that “this is done this way.” But you know, you’ll be able to find at least three other teachers in any technique who do it a completely different way! There are tips to make things look better: to make your stitches lie smoother on the top of the fabric, to eliminate bulges and knots on the back of the fabric. There are reasons to use knots in your embroidery, and reasons not to.
Years later you may look back on what you stitched and think “wow, I could do so much better now.” Maybe you’ll restitch it. (See my post about my first sampler for an example of this!)
There are even reasons to frame your work under glass and reasons to leave the glass off!!!
Follow the pattern. Don’t follow the pattern. Change stitches and colors. This craft and art form are yours. Make it yours. Otherwise, you might as well just go buy something stitched somewhere else to hang on your wall. (This is not to degrade that – I have a lovely dragon embroidery that my father brought back from Thailand for me. I love it very much and it hangs above our fireplace, or will, if we ever get a masonry screw put in to hang it from! Procrastinators, us.)
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