In embroidery, even beginners are just a few simple techniques away from creating beautiful hand-stitched art. Here, Fiance Knowles (Danielle Clough) shares six easy embroidery stitches, from a basic backstitch for straight lines to a couching technique for curves and circles. Learn the difference between satin and long-and-short fill stitches, then add texture to your design with French knots.
And to graduate to full-scale embroidered illustrations, tune in to Painting with Thread: Modern Embroidery for Beginners, Danielle Clough's Skillshare Original course: https://skl.sh/3sorjpP
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BEGINNER EMBROIDERY QUICK JUMP MENU
00:00 Introduction
00:21 What is a Backstitch?
02:18 What is Couching?
02:52 Using Couching to Create Straight Lines
03:18 Using Couching to Create an Arch
04:25 Fill Stitches
04:45 How to Create a Satin Stitch
05:43 Surface Stitches: An Alternate Take on Satin Stitching
07:49 How to Create a Long and Short Stitch
10:05 Creating Texture with a French Knot
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ABOUT THE CLASS
Embroidery is for everyone with something to say—and Danielle Clough is here to help you find your voice. Stuffy embroidery with rigid rules is a thing of the past. Find new inspiration and a fresh way to express your creativity with master embroiderer Danielle Clough. Known for her groundbreaking techniques and nontraditional materials, Danielle’s warm and funny teaching style will make you wonder why you’ve never tried this before.
Danielle believes that embroidery is for absolutely everyone, and her colorful class breaks down the process of stitching into simple, easy-to-follow steps. From preparing your needle, thread, and fabric to completing basic stitches to her signature (and surprisingly simple) color-blending technique, this class will have you working with fabric and thread as comfortably as you do with your tablet, paints, or pencils.
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ABOUT SKILLSHARE
Skillshare is an online education platform with thousands of classes taught by the world’s best practitioners. Come take a class on illustration, design, photography, video, freelancing, crafts, and more. To get started, sign up for a free trial here: https://www.skillshare.com/signup
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ABOUT DANIELLE CLOUGH
Follow Danielle on Skillshare: https://skl.sh/2PxsrIU
As a photographer-designer-VJ-embroiderer, Danielle Clough has lived a life forever bound to the hyphen. Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa (and referred to as “Dee” by those who know her), Clough completed her studies in art direction and graphic design at The Red and Yellow School before embarking on a career in visual art, digital design, and thing-making.
Her combined interest in visual art, music, and South African street culture led to an experimental stint turned niche gig creating visuals for live music events. Using the stage name Fiance Knowles, Dee has performed with local artists Haezer, PH Fat, Hugh Masekela, and international acts such as the Allah Las, Mick Jenkins, Cid Rim, The Black Lips, and Black Sun Empire.
When she is not VJing, Dee could be doing digital design work for local companies; wrapped in a mess of threads embroidering anything from vintage rackets to shoes; lending her voice to local radio shows (Assembly Radio, Bush Radio); creating custom book covers (Modjaji Books); or working as a contributing photographer for various local and international media.
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MORE EMBROIDERY RESOURCES
Just getting started with embroidery? In the Skillshare course Hand Embroidery for Beginners: How to Embroider Lines and Letters, artist Floor Giebels starts with the basics, like setting up your hoop, and guides students through a step-by-step exercise in basic line drawing: https://skl.sh/3fmCg7o
Embroidery can enhance more than fabrics—you can use it to color your photographs, too. In Embroidery on Photographs with 10 Simple Stitches, Peggy Dean of The Pigeon Letters shares how even beginners can use hand stitching to add colorful accents to printed photos: https://skl.sh/3d1BXMI
Dive deeper into three popular embroidery techniques—and learn to sew cherry blossoms and branches—in Blossom Embroidery Hoop Art: Using The Backstitch & Stem Stitch & French Knot, a class from Charlotte Kan: https://skl.sh/3rqiCd8