When Jessica Marquez contacted me about her new Craftsy class on embroidery: Design It, Stitch It: Hand Embroidery, I was beyond excited. I've been a fan of Jessica's clean, elegant style for some time now - you can see her work in her book Stitched Gifts, and in her lovely shop, Miniature Rhino. She was kind enough to let me preview the entire class!
This Craftsy class was everything I expected from such a wonderful stitcher, and even more. I've been embroidering for years, so I'll admit I didn't expect to learn anything new. I was so wrong!
As proof of all that I learned, there are my stitched lessons, up above. Jessica's instructions were so inspiring, I found myself re-learning basic stitches, and trying new stitches I never thought I'd ever use.
The Craftsy class is a series of video lessons, and it actually feels like you are sitting and stitching with Jessica in a big, bright studio. Jessica is so calm, relaxed, and positive - I've decided that she's the Bob Ross of embroidery. :) You can ask questions at any time for Jessica to answer, (the video immediately pauses, so you never lose your place) and you can see all the questions other classmates have asked her.
If you want to get a feel for Craftsy, try these wonderful free mini classes on Craftsy.
In Jessica's class, you'll learn all the stitches you see above, learn to make a mini quilt, learn to stitch on a t-shirt, and learn how to draw your own embroidery patterns. I would definitely recommend this class to all levels of stitchers - if you're a fairly old hand, like me, you'll be surprised at the new stitches and techniques you'll learn, and if you're brand new to embroidery, Jessica does a really good job of making your first start non-intimidating and fun.
If you're on the fence about the cost, here's how I think of it - for the same price as 2 basic embroidery books, you are purchasing 3 hours of hands-on training with a skilled teacher. Books don't have that interactive learning component, you can't exactly ask the author questions, and as we all know, there are few things more inspiring than sitting down and stitching with someone.
Here's the most awesome news - as a special gift to Feeling Stitchy readers, Jessica is offering a 25% discount to all of you who sign up via this link!
Thank you Jessica, and thank you Craftsy, for creating such an inspiring hand embroidery class!
great post! i've been wanting to take some craftsy classes but haven't been able to justify the cost. going to check out the free mini classes and then maybe consider the other classes again.
ReplyDeletecheers! :)