What makes you confident in your own creativity?

A few people have told me that they think I should sell my quilts and other tidbits that i've made in the past. This always make me cringe as I really dont think they are good enough to sell. I tend to feel people are just being nice as they dont know what else to say! I then worry that if I were to sell something, would the buyer want to send it back if they thought it was poorly made or didnt look good enough when they got it?. I think that would massivly knock my confidence, and it's really got me thinking about my own self esteem, and how crytical I am of my own work and how some of that has shifted since I began crafting.



Remember this quilt I made last year?

Well, I decided to make a matching dolls quilt for munckin no 1. I made this last year aswell but completely forgot to blog about it.



Its funny because today I can see the binding is far to chunky for a dolls quilt, but at the time I thought it looked ok. It could also do with being a little bigger. I can feel my crytical eye change with every quilt I make, but I still feel its important to show imperfections as its part of the creative process.

Although some things that used to bother me, for example, the placement of two of the same peices of fabric next to each other, no longer seem important. I can see how some mistakes can add to the charm of a quilt. I always manage to see it better in other peoples quilts, where as I still get annoyed at my own imperfections!

I guess its made me realise that Im not all that confident in what I make and thats probably another reason I blog. It's a way for me to show what I've made without seeing the look on someones face of hiding how awful they think it might be!. Only my family and two close friends know I craft, my mum is probably my biggest fan and thats probably because she used to make bridesmaid dresses and sew quite a bit herself.

So I was wondering, what makes you confident in your own creativity? Do you think its something that your born with? Does it develop over time or are you lucky enough to be surrounded by people who tell you how talented you are and it slowly seeps in?. Do you etsy/folksy/ebay sellers just like to throw caution to the wind and see what happends? or, before you list something to sell, do you sometimes have a little loss of confidence and get lots of advice from other people first on if they think your wares are good enough?

I would love to know your secret so I can work out how to be a bit more positive and believe in myself a little more.

x