Freehand Needle Painting: Embroider the Beauty of Wildlife
A course by Chloe Giordano, Embroidery Artist
Learn to create realistic, nature-inspired embroidery using freehand, needle painting techniques
Delve into the world of needle and thread to create beautiful animal hand embroidery. Join embroidery artist Chloe Giordano as she shares her passion for needlework. Since university, she’s been using wildlife as inspiration in her work, which has led her to collaborate on book covers and illustrate children’s books for publishers including Penguin and Bloomsbury.
In this course, Chloe shares her expertise to guide you to create realistic animal embroidery of your own. Learn how to take inspiration from the world around you and transform it into art using freehand needle painting techniques.
What will you learn in this online course?
15 lessons & 14 downloads
What's included in this course?
Start by getting to know Chloe and find out how she turned her love for embroidery into a career. She talks about the artists who have influenced her and how she created her own visual language.
Familiarize yourself with the materials needed for this course and how to correctly use them. Then, sketch out different animals and choose your favorite designs. Explore reference photos to refine your drawings and help you decide on a color palette. Chloe discusses the importance of color gradients and sticking to realistic tones before showing you how to set up an embroidery hoop and practice stitching.
Grab your needle and get started! Chloe guides you through how to correctly transfer your sketch onto the fabric. Begin to embroider your animal, starting with the head and making your way to the tail. Then, take a last look over your work and add any additional stitches. As a finishing touch, design and embroider a decorative background to frame your subject.
Discover how to transfer your embroidery to the final hoop and finish your work professionally. To end the course, Chloe shares her tips for photographing your embroidery and sharing it on social media.
- 91% positive reviews (148)
- 3,796 students
- 15 lessons (2h 5m)
- 14 additional resources (5 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: English, Spanish (Latam), French, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish
- English · Spanish · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch · Turkish
- Level: Intermediate
- Unlimited access forever
What is this course's project?
Create a realistic embroidery of an animal using freehand needle painting techniques. Chloe embroiders a red squirrel but you can choose any animal you like.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
This course is for anyone with an interest in freehand embroidery.
Requirements and materials
Previous experience working with a needle and thread is required.
You will need thread, needles, thimbles, calico, embroidery scissors, and other materials specified by the teacher in the course.
Reviews
Chloe Giordano
A course by Chloe Giordano
Chloe Giordano is a UK-based embroidery artist who specializes in creating artwork inspired by the natural world. Her early years growing up in the countryside inspired her love of nature but it was during her time at university that her artistic journey began. Whilst studying illustration, Chloe discovered a fascination with stitching that went on to shape her career and eventually developed her freehand needle painting technique which combined all three of her passions; nature, painting, and embroidery.
Chloe has embroidered several book cover designs, illustrated children’s books for publishers including Penguin and Bloomsbury, and has also published a book of her own about her work. Her embroidery has even been sold at Liberty in London.
Content
-
U1
Introduction
-
About Me
-
Influences
-
-
U2
Getting Ready to Embroider
-
Materials
-
Sketching Your Design
-
Choosing Colours
-
Hoop and Practice Stitching
-
-
U3
Embroidering the Squirrel
-
Transferring the Design
-
The Head 1
-
The Head 2
-
The Neck and Shoulders 1
-
The Neck and Shoulders 2
-
The Torso
-
The Background
-
-
U4
After the Final Stitch: Backing Your Embroidery
-
Transferring to the Final Hoop
-
Photographing Your Embroidery
-
-
FP
Final project
-
Freehand Needle Painting: Embroider the Beauty of Wildlife
-
What to expect from a Domestika course
-
Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
-
Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
-
Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
-
Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
-
Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
-
Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
-
Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
-
Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Needlepainting embroidery is a technique that uses thread blending and shading to create realistic, painterly images, often of animals or botanicals. Unlike traditional embroidery, needlepainting focuses on fine color blending and freehand stitch direction for naturalistic effects.
Yes, this course is designed for beginners and provides step-by-step guidance on materials, techniques, and foundational skills needed for needlepainting embroidery.
You’ll need embroidery needles, sewing or embroidery thread, cotton fabric, an embroidery hoop, embroidery scissors, and a vanishing marker or pencil for design transfer. Optional items include a thimble and sketchbook for planning.
Yes, the course covers color blending techniques, helping you select and layer thread colors to achieve smooth, realistic shading in your embroidery projects.
You’ll learn methods for transferring designs, such as using a vanishing marker or pencil to trace or draw your pattern directly onto the fabric for precise stitching.
Yes, the course discusses the advantages and disadvantages of both cotton and polyester threads, so you can choose the best option for your project.
You will learn to analyze animal anatomy, select accurate colors, layer stitches for fur texture, and apply shading techniques to create lifelike animal embroidery.
Me gustó mucho el curso, me dio las bases para crear muchos bordados que tengo en mente, ha sido sencillo el proceso y facil de entender. Lo recomiendo mucho
Me parece super interesante, se aprende algo nuevo, y el video introductorio causa mucha curiosidad para aprender.
Belleza total! muy buenas explicaciones y excelente Chloe con su didáctica. Super recomendable
O curso é bom, mas tem um senão a formadora apesar ser óptima tecnicamente ela é pouco comunicativa o torna o curso um pouco monótono, há longos períodos de silêncio de resto é excelente e desenha extraordinariamente bem.
Un curso en el que aprendí mucho, a crear una bonita paleta de tonos, a diseñar y tener la confianza de realizar el diseño desde bocetos. El uso de hilos de coser, permite dar pequeños detalles al diseño. Un curso muy recomendado para quienes desean seguir enriqueciendo el conocimiento en el bordado.