Embroidery 101 – FULL

  • Dates: Tuesday, 5:00-7:00pm, 10 Weeks
  • Tuition: $90
  • Instructor: Yoni Glogower

Embroidery is the simple act of passing thread through fabric or other two-dimensional material; simultaneously one of the most ancient textile art technique practiced around the globe, yet increasingly relevant to fiber artists today. Though this course will hone in on four basic stitch types (straight, chain, French and boullion knots, and couching), students will be encouraged to explore the endless forms that can be produced by utilizing these simple techniques with varying thread type, material, and colors.

This course will begin with a sampler assignment to familiarize students with setting up embroidery hoops, methods for anchoring, and experimentation with different needles, thread types, and stitches. In true Hill Institute fashion, they will then take on two to three personal projects with instructor guidance and encouragement, with periodic demonstrations of new techniques and tools at their disposal, including methods for image transfer onto fabric to trace designs, hand applique, waste canvas for facilitation of counted stitch methods, goldwork, and the logistics of stitching directly onto paper or photographs.

Because embroidery is inherently a social and portable discipline, the class will also include a series of lectures/Power Point presentations led by the instructor, during which the students can simultaneously keep working on their projects. Topics will include medieval canvas embroidery, Indian mirror work embroidery, and work by contemporary embroidery artists.

Course Goals
Students who complete this course successfully will be able to:

  • Confidently work all the basic embroidery stitches
  • Embroider on a variety of surfaces with different thread types and materials
  • Create finished pieces that utilize a variety of interacting techniques
  • Understand their embroidered work within its historical and cultural context

Required Texts (selected pages with embroidery techniques will be scanned and provided to students)

Enthoven, Jacqueline (1987) The Stitches of Creative Embroidery. West Chester, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd.

Lantz, Shirlee and Maggie Lane (1973) A Pageant of Pattern for Needlepoint Canvas. New York, NY: Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.