CREATE YOUR OWN EMBROIDERY DESIGNS
✨ By popular demand, a second session is here ✨
The August edition of Create Your Own Embroidery Designs sold out in less than 48 hours, and many of you asked if I would offer it again.
5 Sessions: Saturday 31 October, Sundays 8, 15, 22, 29 November · 2 hours each ·
Maximum 15 participants
"I know so many embroidery techniques, but I could never design it myself."
Maybe you've felt this. You stand in front of an artwork or a magazine page and something in you responds. Then you sit down with a needle and a blank piece of fabric, and you don't know where to begin.
WHAT THIS COURSE IS
Most embroidery workshops teach you how to stitch. This one teaches you how to design — the thinking that happens before the needle ever touches fabric: gathering inspiration, learning how to observe those images, choosing the right one, simplifying, composing, selecting techniques as well as color.
We will use the world of Henri Matisse as our guide — not to copy his work, but to borrow his way of seeing. His instinct for color as feeling. His scissors-as-drawing-tool logic. His talent for reducing a leaf, a body, a room, down to its essential shape.
By the end of five Saturdays, you will have moved from a folder of inspiration images to a finished, framed embroidery sample — entirely your own design, made through a process you can repeat for the rest of your creative life.
HOW THE FIVE SESSIONS UNFOLD
01 — Inspiration research and selection
We begin with looking. You'll learn to build a mood board the way a designer does — sorted by color, shape, ambiance, and technique — and start training your eye to recognize what draws you in, and why.
02 — Drawing, layouts and composition
Using simple handmade tools, you'll learn to find unexpected compositions hidden inside your own images, then reduce them to their essential lines and shapes — the same instinct that let Matisse turn a houseplant into a masterpiece with a pair of scissors.
03 — Choosing the right technique
Thread, beads, sequins, appliqué — each occupies space differently. You'll learn to read your own design and decide which material and which stitch will bring it to life, and how to draw a proper technical layout.
04 — Applying color
Many embroiderers spend years mastering stitches, yet colour remains one of the biggest challenges. Learning to analyse and build colour palettes confidently can transform the way you approach every creative project.05 — Final results and critique.
05 — Final results and critique
Studio time to embroider your chosen design, followed by a group critique — sharing challenges, discoveries, and the finished work. You'll leave with a completed sample and a process you now own.
WHAT YOU WILL LEAVE WITH
— A finished, embroidered 15x15cm sample, fully designed by you
— Two complete design layouts and two color palettes — a body of work, not just one piece. You can continue exploring this in the future or use it as the base for other works.
— A repeatable design method: from research to finished object
— A small, focused community of fellow makers to share your ideas, discuss them, get feedback and learn from one another during five wonderful weeks.
WHO THIS COURSE IS FOR
This course welcomes all levels. If you already embroider but have always relied on existing patterns, this is where you learn to make your own. If you are newer to needlework but have a strong visual sense, the design process matters more here than prior technical mastery. We will guide you through the stitching.
PRACTICAL DETAILS
Dates: Sundays 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 November
Time: 17h-19h Paris time. 2 hours per session. We meet on Zoom, the access link is sent 24h before each class.
All sessions will be recorded and a link sent to the participants within 24h.
Group size: maximum 12 participants
Materials: a full materials list will be sent upon registration. Most items (paper, scissors, hoop, basic threads, beads and sequins) you may already have at home or in your studio.
BOOK YOUR SPOT
Places are limited to keep the studio intimate and the feedback personal.
CREATE YOUR OWN EMBROIDERY DESIGNS
✨ By popular demand, a second session is here ✨
The August edition of Create Your Own Embroidery Designs sold out in less than 48 hours, and many of you asked if I would offer it again.
5 Sessions: Saturday 31 October, Sundays 8, 15, 22, 29 November · 2 hours each ·
Maximum 15 participants
"I know so many embroidery techniques, but I could never design it myself."
Maybe you've felt this. You stand in front of an artwork or a magazine page and something in you responds. Then you sit down with a needle and a blank piece of fabric, and you don't know where to begin.
WHAT THIS COURSE IS
Most embroidery workshops teach you how to stitch. This one teaches you how to design — the thinking that happens before the needle ever touches fabric: gathering inspiration, learning how to observe those images, choosing the right one, simplifying, composing, selecting techniques as well as color.
We will use the world of Henri Matisse as our guide — not to copy his work, but to borrow his way of seeing. His instinct for color as feeling. His scissors-as-drawing-tool logic. His talent for reducing a leaf, a body, a room, down to its essential shape.
By the end of five Saturdays, you will have moved from a folder of inspiration images to a finished, framed embroidery sample — entirely your own design, made through a process you can repeat for the rest of your creative life.
HOW THE FIVE SESSIONS UNFOLD
01 — Inspiration research and selection
We begin with looking. You'll learn to build a mood board the way a designer does — sorted by color, shape, ambiance, and technique — and start training your eye to recognize what draws you in, and why.
02 — Drawing, layouts and composition
Using simple handmade tools, you'll learn to find unexpected compositions hidden inside your own images, then reduce them to their essential lines and shapes — the same instinct that let Matisse turn a houseplant into a masterpiece with a pair of scissors.
03 — Choosing the right technique
Thread, beads, sequins, appliqué — each occupies space differently. You'll learn to read your own design and decide which material and which stitch will bring it to life, and how to draw a proper technical layout.
04 — Applying color
Many embroiderers spend years mastering stitches, yet colour remains one of the biggest challenges. Learning to analyse and build colour palettes confidently can transform the way you approach every creative project.05 — Final results and critique.
05 — Final results and critique
Studio time to embroider your chosen design, followed by a group critique — sharing challenges, discoveries, and the finished work. You'll leave with a completed sample and a process you now own.
WHAT YOU WILL LEAVE WITH
— A finished, embroidered 15x15cm sample, fully designed by you
— Two complete design layouts and two color palettes — a body of work, not just one piece. You can continue exploring this in the future or use it as the base for other works.
— A repeatable design method: from research to finished object
— A small, focused community of fellow makers to share your ideas, discuss them, get feedback and learn from one another during five wonderful weeks.
WHO THIS COURSE IS FOR
This course welcomes all levels. If you already embroider but have always relied on existing patterns, this is where you learn to make your own. If you are newer to needlework but have a strong visual sense, the design process matters more here than prior technical mastery. We will guide you through the stitching.
PRACTICAL DETAILS
Dates: Sundays 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 November
Time: 17h-19h Paris time. 2 hours per session. We meet on Zoom, the access link is sent 24h before each class.
All sessions will be recorded and a link sent to the participants within 24h.
Group size: maximum 12 participants
Materials: a full materials list will be sent upon registration. Most items (paper, scissors, hoop, basic threads, beads and sequins) you may already have at home or in your studio.
BOOK YOUR SPOT
Places are limited to keep the studio intimate and the feedback personal.
