Realistic Miniature Animal Embroidery
A course by Carla RamosArtist and Embroiderer
A course by Carla Ramos, Artist and Embroiderer
Learn needle painting techniques by embroidering pets and creating exclusive jewelry designs
Try combining a love of animals with the beauty of embroidery to create delicate and unique accessories. Artist and embroiderer Carla Ramos has collaborated with a range of brands, as well as given courses to thousands of people. She specializes in needle painting, which is ideal for transforming images of pets into realistic works of art with needle and thread.
In this online course, learn to embroider mini portraits of your furry family members. With Carla as your guide, discover her entire creative process, from the initial sketches to the finishing touches, and make a uniquely personal embroidered accessory.
What will you learn in this online course?
17 lessons & 17 downloads
Influences
2 minutes, 58 seconds
Materials
10 minutes, 33 seconds
How to transfer the design to the fabric?
4 minutes, 23 seconds
Practical exercise of the needle painting stitch 1
13 minutes, 21 seconds
Muzzle and mouth
3 minutes, 53 seconds
Neck
5 minutes, 10 seconds
What's included in this course?
Meet your teacher, Carla Ramos. She talks about how she turned her lifelong passion for embroidery into a career, as well as discusses some of her biggest influences.
Begin by taking a closer look at the materials you need for the course. Learn how to compose your design using a reference photo, before seeing how to transfer it to the fabric. Explore how to choose a realistic color palette that takes into account a combination of light and shadow. Then get straight down to practicing the needle painting stitch.
Next, Carla teaches you to embroider your pet's face step by step. Start with the most expressive part—the eyes—adding light points to give your work extra character. After completing the ears, nose, mouth, and neck, fill in the coat with different shades to add depth and realism.
To bring the course to a close, learn how to apply your work to different accessories with metal bases, such as earrings and pins. Carla gives you some parting tips on care and maintenance, so that you can keep your pieces looking new for longer. You're now ready to use everything you've learned to embroider a whole menagerie of furry friends!
What is this course's project?
Create an embroidered accessory featuring the face of a beloved pet.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Anyone interested in exploring embroidery and making a pet-themed accessory.
Requirements and materials
No prior knowledge is necessary for this course.
In terms of materials, you need an embroidery hoop, needles, thread, and some fabric.
Reviews
- 3 months ago
Gostei muito, bem explicado. Recomendo.
- 4 months ago
Eu gostei muito do curso, as explicações são claras e consegui fazer meu primeiro mini bordado pet
- 5 months ago
I LIKE IT
- 6 months ago
Curso incrível amei. Consegui fazer o borabado sim facilidade. Agora é treinar
- 6 months ago
Achei o máximo, amo bordar, mas é a primeira vez que bordo animais, em miniatura então!!! Nossa estou super empolgada.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- About Me
- Influences
- U2
Materials, design and colors
- Materials
- How to create a pet drawing from a photo?
- How to transfer the design to the fabric?
- Color palette from a photo
- Practical exercise of the needle painting stitch 1
- Practical exercise of the needle painting stitch 2
- U3
Embroidering the kitten
- Eyes
- Ears
- Muzzle and mouth
- Neck
- White fur
- Black fur
- Final stitches and correction
- U4
Finishing and other applications
- Application in a pendant
- Other application possibilities and care
- FP
Final project
- Realistic Miniature Animal Embroidery
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
Mini embroidery is a small-scale embroidery technique perfect for making accessories like pendants, necklaces, and custom brooches. It lets you turn handmade art into unique, portable pieces—great for gifts or selling.
The course is recommended for those with basic embroidery knowledge but offers detailed step-by-step instructions so dedicated beginners can follow along too.
You’ll need a small hoop, suitable fabric, embroidery floss, a fine needle, precision scissors, tracing paper, a pencil or mechanical pencil, and accessories like pendants. The course explains how to choose each material.
You’ll learn to create realistic pet portraits in mini embroidery using needle painting—from selecting the photo and transferring the design to fabric, to building a color palette, stitching techniques, and finishing the pendant.
Needle painting uses long and short stitches to create shadows, highlights, and gradients, mimicking realistic painting with embroidery lines—perfect for capturing animals and fine details.
No drawing skills are required; the course teaches how to transfer images and create sketches from photos, making it easy to prepare your base design for embroidery.
The course guides you on picking photos with good lighting and detail, plus resizing and adjusting images to fit the pendant shape for the best embroidery results.