Basic Embroidery Techniques: Stitches, Compositions, and Color Ranges

Artist, designer, embroiderer, and the cofounder of uauh! studio Loly Ghirardi (Señorita Lylo) offers her expert guidance on the basic embroidery techniques. Embroidery is a way of narrating as well as documenting drawings, typographies, and images. In this course, learn how to combine graphic design, illustration, and embroidery.

Señorita Lylo goes through the materials needed for the course and then teaches you both flat and raised stitches. Learn her tricks and the secrets to color schemes and use it all to design a shirt collar and embroider it with flowers, letters, or patterns.

Start off by learning about Señorita Lylo’s work and influences as well as looking at some reference material from the world of embroidery.

Then discover the different types of threads, fabrics, and materials used in this technique before learning the basic stitches used in embroidery, both flat and raised, such as the sand stitch, stem stitch, woven wheel stitch, and woven picot stitch.

Now you’ve got a handle on the basics, choose and design your own shirt collar, considering the variety of fabrics, the use of markers, and the most appropriate color palette.

Embroider a natural landscape with mountains, trees, leaves, and raindrops combining different stitches, symmetrical and asymmetrical embroidery, and small details that really help bring the piece to life.