I have always wanted to frame one of my hoops "upside down," with its messy back showing. And I'm glad I did it with this piece, because it reminds me of my absolute favorite piece of advice to give to new stitchers: the worse it looks, the more authentic it looks.
If you've decided to do the thing and that thing happens to be embroidery, the phrase, "the worse it looks, the more authentic it looks," is worth having in your head.
Why?
Because it takes time, patience, and energy to complete a project.
If you don't allow yourself the personal grace to let your work be imperfect, then you won't have it in you to put in the time a given project requires, you'll find yourself losing all your patience for the craft, and you'll quickly run low on the emotional and creative energy necessary to finish anything.
If you're not there yet, I certainly get it! Trust me, I have that same voice inside my head telling me, "this sucks, it's ugly, your color choices are unsophisticated, you should just quit."
Over time, though, I've learned to tell myself, "the worse it looks, the more authentic it looks," whenever those nasty thoughts start to pop up - and you know what? It works for me! Maybe it can work for you, too.
Ready to start making perfectly imperfect embroidery for yourself? I've got tons of embroidery kits in my shop, as well as free tutorials on YouTube and Instagram!
