Once upon a time, girls and women practiced needlework by making samplers. Samplers remain popular today, but they are not generally considered practice pieces. Rather, they demonstrate proficiency. In reality, I think few contemporary embroiderers practice. (Oooo, what does it mean to practice–there’s a topic for another day.) However, I think bookmarks are an excellent medium for practice and exploration, and I’d really like to see them used that way.

Times have changed. Stitchers today looking to practice are less likely to choose sampler-sized projects for the purpose. Because bookmarks are small; they do not require a huge investment of time, money, or materials. If the exploration or practice proves unsatisfying–that is, if our end result is, um, shall we say awful–there’s no huge sense of waste in either time, money, or materials. Even better, their small size means we can use scraps from other projects, things that are already garbage. How’s that for permission to create something awful?

My practice supplies and instruction book.

So…during the 2010 Bookmark Challenge, I challenge you to explore or practice a technique or stitch you’ve not yet mastered on a bookmark. I’ve already know what I’m going to practice (nyeh, nyeh)–new fillings used in hemstitching.

All right. Who’s in for this Challenge challenge?