As I browsed through Annies Crazy World just now, I had one of those lightbulb moments.
Her latest work includes a band of gorgeous silk-ribbon flowers. They’re truly lovely and the ideal touch for this piece — an embellishment I’d like to emulate. But my vicious internal critic said, “Don’t bother. You can’t make those flowers correctly. You’ve tried a hundred times and they always look stupid and false.” Then I saw this close-up shot of the flower band, and it finally hit me: Annie Whitsed‘s posies are not symmetrical! They’re tipped and tilted and gently ruffled. The composition is balanced, but the flowers are as varied as they would be in a live garden. By avoiding perfect repetition, Annie has achieved……perfection!
How in the world did it take me so long to figure this out? Many, many thanks to Annie for providing a model that I — and perhaps a few other stitchers — can connect with. Guess what I’ll be practice-stitching tonight.
Go to Annie’s blog to see beautiful photos of this and many other charming projects.
Yes irregularity and unevenness is important in SRE. As nature is never perfect or regular – it means the style is also very forgiving as mistakes are not so noticeable.