Inspiration - imperfections

I was in the V&A again last weekend (before going out onto Brompton Road to watch the men's Olympic road cyclists whizz past) and I found some wonderful pieces that I've not seen before.

These pieces are absolutely stunning, such skilled work, all done by hand, mainly by women in past centuries, however what really caught my eye was the fact that these amazing pieces were still not perfect. It makes me feel better about my own work when I see things like this, and it reminds me that, like in music when you play a wrong note with confidence, it is an interpretation, when your needlework is well designed and beautiful, the imperfections are character!

Chair back cover by Jane Vigor from the collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

This is one of the pieces I spent an age staring at! I was amazed at all the detail, and the way that the colours were used but I did spot that on the right hand side - you won't be able to see it in the photo- there are some pencil marks around the flowers, where she clearly has changed her mind about how they were going to look. It was fascinating to see that because it teaches you something about the way that the piece was made, but also just the fact of being able to see that the piece was not immaculately perfect.

I know that my work is not perfect, far from it, so to see a piece like that, which I know is amazing, which also has imperfections it makes me hopeful that I can make my work better, and tells me that what I do is fine too.

I have plenty of choice when it comes to showing you some of the imperfections in my work, so I thought I'd show you a first glimpse of the cutwork that I am working on...

A first look at my cutwork project, you can see how it's gone  a little bit frilly!

I'm learning as I go, so some of the stitching is a little bit messy, but I think that it will still look nice in the end, and the more important thing is that the next time, I will know how it's done!