Course description

Embroidery is one of the calmest crafts there is: a needle, some thread, a piece of fabric in a hoop, and an evening that goes slowly in the best way. This course teaches you hand embroidery from the very beginning, one stitch at a time, and helps you turn those stitches into finished pieces you'll be proud to hang on the wall or give away.

There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, each with clear numbered steps, a worked example and a short practical exercise. You follow Deolinda, a school office manager in Buxton, through her first year of stitching: her first kit, a sampler that grows row by row, a botanical sprig, a wildflower meadow, woven roses, a name hoop for her niece, a cross-stitch bookmark, napkins and a bee tote bag, a stall at a summer fair, and a garden hoop to finish. Every section has a practice pack with a worksheet, model answers, a cheat sheet, illustrated stitch guides and actual-size patterns as PDF and SVG files.

What you'll learn

• Getting started: what embroidery is, your kit, choosing fabric, threads and strands, and a safe, comfortable stitching space.
• Hoops, threading and transferring designs: hooping drum-tight, starting and finishing threads, thread length and tangles, transferring a design, and setting up your stitch sampler.
• Line stitches: running, back, stem, split and chain stitch, with whipped and threaded versions, and your first hoop: a botanical sprig.
• Loops, knots and detached stitches: lazy daisy, fly stitch, French and colonial knots, bullions, pistil, seed and straight stitch, and a wildflower meadow hoop.
• Filling shapes: satin and padded satin stitch, long and short shading, fishbone leaves and woven wheel roses, and a leaf and rose hoop.
• Colour, patterns and design: choosing colours, reading any pattern, designing your own from a photo, stitching letters, and a name hoop.
• Counted and geometric embroidery: counted fabrics, cross stitch from a chart, blackwork, borders and corners, and a cross-stitch bookmark.
• Embroidering everyday items: choosing items, stabilisers, monogrammed napkins, a motif on a tote bag or jacket, and caring for embroidered things.
• Finishing, fixing and sharing your work: unpicking cleanly, removing marks and pressing, finishing hoops, cards and patches, and giving and selling your work.
• Final projects and next steps: planning a bigger project, stitching a garden hoop, a set of three mini hoops, and where to go next.

Who it's for

Crafters and sewers who'd like a relaxing hand craft, and complete beginners who've never threaded an embroidery needle. You don't need to be able to draw: every project comes with a pattern to trace. If you already sew, your hand-sewing habits will help, and the course shows where embroidery does things differently.

What you'll need

A small starter kit: embroidery needles, a 15 cm and a 20 cm wooden hoop, small sharp scissors, plain cotton or cotton-linen fabric, a few colours of stranded cotton and a water-soluble pen. Lesson 1.2 explains each item and what can wait until later. A printer helps for the patterns, but you can trace from a screen.

What will I learn?

• Choose needles, hoops, fabric and threads, and set up a safe, comfortable stitching space
• Put fabric in a hoop drum-tight, start and finish threads neatly, and transfer a design accurately
• Stitch running, back, stem, split and chain stitch, and their whipped and threaded variations
• Make lazy daisies, fly stitches, French and colonial knots, bullions, pistil and seed stitch
• Fill shapes with satin, padded satin, long and short and fishbone stitch, and weave woven wheel roses
• Choose colours that work, read any embroidery pattern, design your own and stitch letters and names
• Work counted cross stitch and blackwork from a chart, and plan borders and corners
• Embroider tea towels, napkins, tote bags and clothes with the right stabiliser, and care for them
• Fix mistakes, remove marks, finish hoops, cards and patches, and price and sell your work with the basic rules in mind
• Plan, stitch and finish a larger hoop and a matching set of mini hoops

Frequently asked questions