To get better . . .

I have been working on the motifs for my online whitework class.

I bought a water-soluble marker that said it was a fine line. If it's a fine line, I'm svelte. I am assuming that it will, indeed, come out with the application of sufficient moisture.

Anyway, I was fine with my stem stitch, happy with my chain stitch, okay with my padded herringbone (which did not make it into this picture).

But my trailing . . . oh, dear . . . to do a trailing stitch, which is used to make fine lines on whitework, you completely and smoothly cover several lengths of thread with another, single thread.  Notice the word "smooth" which mine is not. Instead, it's a little lumpy and bumpy. Actually, if I had stitched it in dark blue and purple, it would look like one of my varicose veins. I do not think this is what was intended, but I am going to remind myself it's a learning experience, and you have to be unskilled to become skilled--or, you have to be bad to get good.