
As a child, people often told me I’d make a great teacher. But as the daughter of two educators, the idea appalled me. Who wants to spend their life torturing children with fractions and expanded noun phrases?
No, I was going to do something far more exciting. A vet? A window dresser? A theatrical costume designer? Maybe I’d even make costumes for animals while healing them and training them to perform in shop windows...
Fast forward 20+ years, and I have, in fact, spent most of my career in the classroom. And if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s this: the best way to learn is to make mistakes.
But making mistakes is hard. Whether it’s putting pen to paper and writing that first line of a story, raising your hand to share an idea, or showing your working out on the board, it takes courage. It means trusting that you won’t be judged, criticised, or laughed at.
And I see that same hesitation in my creative workshops. People arrive full of excitement but also with a quiet fear—of getting it wrong, of not being good enough, of their stitches not looking the way they imagined.
That fear? It’s holding them back.
The Perfectionism Trap
Somewhere along the way, we’re taught that mistakes are bad. That if we can’t do something perfectly straight away, we shouldn’t do it at all. Perfectionism sneaks in, convincing us that unless our stitches are neat, our colours perfectly chosen, and our design flawless, we’ve somehow failed.
But here’s the truth: there is no such thing as a perfect creative process.
Making is messy. It’s trial and error. It’s wonky stitches, colour choices you later rethink, and that moment when you have to unpick everything because you’ve stitched through the back of your hoop (we’ve all been there!).
And yet, these moments are where the real magic happens. Because every mistake teaches us something.
Every "oops" moment is a step forward.
Creating a Safe Space to Make Without Fear
This is why I design my workshops to be places of encouragement, play, and gentle learning. I don’t expect perfection—I don’t even want it. I want people to try. To enjoy the process. To experiment and explore. To realise that their creativity isn’t about getting everything right but about expressing something uniquely theirs.
It’s why I’ll always remind you that a wobbly stitch won’t ruin your embroidery. That an unexpected colour choice might actually make your piece even better. That unpicking is just another part of the process, not a failure.
So if you’ve ever held back from trying something new because you were afraid it wouldn’t be "good enough," I want you to know—you are safe here. I will guide you, support you, and celebrate every step with you.
Because creativity isn’t about getting it perfect. It’s about getting started.
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