Specialization in Creative Embroidery and Fashion Textiles

From a flower that her first-grade teacher drew that reminds her of the Jacobean embroidery style to artists from Fauvism and Post-Impressionism who focus on color and express emotions through contrast, Polina shares some of the things that inspire her to create and that influence her art.

Influences | Polina Oshu

Influences | Damaja

In this lesson, Damaja will talk about her influences and what inspires her the most in her work and life.

Influences | Kseniia Guseva

In this lesson, Kseniia will share her influences, that is the people and places that can get you inspired.

Influences | Ignacia Jullian

Ignacia will show you some of the influences that help her when looking for inspiration and references. I hope you like them as much as she does!

Module 2

Improve your creativity with threads and needles, no limits or rules

12 lessons (2h 19m)

The importance of investigating

In this lesson, I will tell you why the word research is so important to me, and the positive way it has impacted my work and my creative processes. I will talk to you about the importance of being kind to oneself to embark on a new path of creative investigation, and why is kindness a key to learning.

Materials, colors, textures

In this lesson, we will walk through various materials, and talk about their characteristics, potentials and possibilities. I will talk about the possibility of enriching embroidery at the level of textures, reliefs and contrasts.

We will start an investigation in a frame nº5. I will show you how to put the fabric in the frame and what is the purpose of winding the fabric in the hoops. I will also tell you about the pencils that are used to draw on our embroidery stand, the threading of the needle, the use of a handle, among others.

Point

18m

First stitches (part 1)

In this lesson, we will see the simplest stitches, such as rice stitch, stitches with clasp and my favorite stitch, the aleoped stitch!

We continued with the lesson, and we continued to check the rice stitch, stitches with clasp and my favorite, the aleoped stitch!

First stitches (part 2)

Three-dimensional stitches (part 1)

In this lesson, I will teach you about the French knot, macramé, bullón, picot, thread covering and chain.

Three-dimensional stitches (part 2)

We continue with the lesson, and we continue talking about the French knot, the macramé, the bull, the picot, the thread covering and the chain.

Application of other elements

We will see how to apply other elements in our research to provide texture, volume and color. I will show you how to reuse the threads, incorporating them to our investigations, as well as pompoms, fringes, tassels and patches. I will also talk about the process of observation to decontextualize our embroidery when removed from the frame, and to admire the reverse.

Supports and materials

In this lesson, I will show you different fabrics of the garments to be able to intervene, and I will show you how to use them.

Intervene your own garments

In this lesson, I'll start by drawing on a jeans shirt with a permanent marker. I will show you how to make a design and where to place it in the garment. I will talk about abstract and figurative designs and how to choose the one that really goes with you.

Embroidering a garment (part 1)

Using the drawing of the sheets, I will test the different stitches and possibilities on a shirt, always allowing new things to emerge as we intervene.

19m

Embroidering a garment (part 2)

We continue using the drawing of the sheets, testing the different stitches and possibilities on the shirt.

Module 3

Use colorful markers and embroidery threads to create garments and decorations that express your personality

12 lessons (1h 52m)

Expressing Yourself

Being ourselves is a wonderful thing, but why is it so hard? I will explain how you can use art in your favor. Are you looking for a creative outlet? An excuse to be "abnormal" or different from everyone else? I will show you how you can start doing this in this course.

How to Find Inspiration

The thing that inspires me the most is nature. From walking on the streets to seeing botanical books. This is what fuels my creativity. But since we're diving into textiles, I will share with you a couple of ideas to serve as inspiration for your project. You can use a shirt or a jacket. But also, why not your shoes or a cap?

Materials

I will now look over the necessary materials for this course, so you can get ready to follow along with me. Since the process will be divided between drawing sketches, painting on fabrics, and embroidery, you will need a mix of materials. But don't worry, everything is available to buy, and you can find some recommendations in the Domestika forum. You will also see that with only a few colors and materials, you can achieve an amazing project!

Color

Color is a whole world in itself. There is a lot of theory behind it and many techniques that you can use when you're first starting your creative process. In this lesson, I will give my favorite tips for selecting a color palette, focusing only on temperature and tone. You will see that simplifying and understanding one concept will help you to get either a vivid design that will make your art pop and attract attention or a less wild but beautiful and harmonious piece.

Shapes and Composition

Once you have your color palette, it's time to give the design some shape and composition. A few tips on this topic will help you take your design to the next level. If you're just starting out, don't make a very complicated piece. Let's focus on doing something small and simple, but paying attention to size contrast, counters, details, simplification, balance, shape contrast, rhythm, overlaps, interweaving, and avoiding tangents.

How to Transfer the Design and Paint on Fabric

There are a lot of different techniques that you can use to transfer your design and paint on textiles. I will show my two favorite ones: creating a stencil with transparent paper and drawing directly on fabric. If you're not comfortable with either of them, I left a couple more options in the Additional Resources section of this unit. Be aware that before getting started with this step, make sure the piece of fabric you're using for your practice is washed and ironed. It would be ideal to have one of 100% cotton. Be sure to wait at least a couple of hours before progressing to the next lesson. This will ensure that your piece is completely dry.

How to Embroider

There are an infinite number of stitches and different embroidery techniques, and if you're just starting out, it can be overwhelming! That's why I decided to show my favorite basic stitches that will help you to create amazing and beautiful embroidery. I will use my small abstract composition to show you how I set up the textile on the hoop, how I thread my needle, the basic straight stitch, long and short stitch, French knots, gradients, a thin rope line, and some simple asterisk. Take your time and practice! After mixing and matching these basic stitches, you'll be able to create a very strong and complicated design later on.

20m

Inspiration, Color Palette, and Sketch

Let's jump into the design phase of the course project! In this lesson, I will work on a more complicated pattern to show you what's possible! Instead of using a reference photo, I will draw from my imagination. If you're a beginner and feel a little insecure about sketching something without a reference, I encourage you to source one and use it as inspiration. You also have the option to use my project as a reference. However, I would strongly suggest that you project your style onto the piece and create something unique! I will also show how adding one extra color marker can change the energy of a design from harmonious to vibrant. It's important to remember at this point that the color of your piece will be the background color. So, be sure to consider this when selecting your palette.

Transferring the Design to Fabric and Coloring with Paint

Before getting started, make sure that your textile is washed and ironed. Otherwise, it can alter your design considerably! In this lesson, I will show you how I transfer a complex design to fabric using the stencil technique. Also, you will see how I prepare my Posca markers to start painting. Once you've completed these steps, you will need to wait for a period of 24 hours before progressing to the next stage.

This is the last step of the course project! Embroidery takes a lot of time, patience, and practice. I will show how you can apply the stitches I taught you in this course to a more complicated design. The process is more or less the same as our practice runs, but the final result will be complex and with a lot of details.

Embroidery

20m

How to Take Care of the Design and Home Decor Options

There are a number of things you need to consider to keep your piece looking great for a long time. The Posca markers will hold well for a long time (please don't forget to apply dry heat to fix the paint on the fabric!), even if you decide to put your piece on the washing machine. However, the embroidery part is very delicate and needs special care. As a result, I recommend washing your design by hand with cold water and ironing it from the opposite side. In this course, I showed you how to decorate a piece of clothing. But the same techniques can be applied to any other thing that you wish to create! Home decor pieces are a very great way to give personality to your space or even give as a gift to someone. The possibilities are endless! From table cloths to dish towels, curtains, pillowcases, lamps, and even more complicated and sophisticated pieces on couches or chairs.

Sharing Your Work

It's time to share your art with the world! This is a crucial step that everyone should follow. Receiving positive feedback gives me the fuel to keep on creating more! What's more, I believe that when I share my work, I open a new space inside that inspires me to start a new project. Of course, there will always be someone that may give you negative feedback. That's why it's important to understand that art is subjective—this may be a reflection of their own emotions and not about your work. For this reason, I also think it is important to find a safe space and a supportive community of artists. Be sure to comment and help your colleagues in the forum. I'll be there waiting to see your amazing pieces on Instagram under the hashtags #PolinaOshuDomestika and #colorinstitch.

Module 4

Learn to embroider colorful images onto stretchy garments to upcycle your clothing into fashionable works of art

17 lessons (3h 10m)

How to Get Started and What Materials to Use

Let me tell you what creativity means to me and how I combine inspirational images to create and finalize each design. I will also show you the materials I use to help me turn my ideas into hand embroidery reality.

Fabrics and Threads

In this lesson, we will talk about fabrics and threads. Which fabrics are good for hand embroidery and which are not? I will show you how to embroider on a variety of fabrics and tell you all about the things that are important while embroidering on different kinds of materials and surfaces.

Outline Stitches 1

Now I will show you all the techniques I use to hand embroider an outline of a drawing.

Let us continue with the second fabric and second technique: the split stitch. With this technique, your embroidery will turn out very smooth.

Outline Stitches 2

18m

Filler Stitches 1

In this lesson, I will show you all the techniques I use to fill up a surface with hand embroidery.

We will finish off with my favorite filler technique which is especially delicate. Let me show you how it works on a piece of very thin and translucent fabric.

Filler Stitches 2

Inspiration for Your Design

Let us now start searching for inspiration through online images.

Positioning and Transferring

In this lesson, I will show you how to work with stencils. I will also show you some other options of transferring your drawing onto your piece of clothing.

Let us now embroider the head of the oryx. We'll be installing the hoop, not stretching the fabric too much.

The Head of the Oryx 1

15m

The Head of the Oryx 2

Let's continue with the nose, mouth, ears, and horns of our oryx.

In this lesson, we will start embroidering the body with our chosen colors, applying different techniques that fit the shape and texture of a true oryx.

Body Colors

Pattern and Tail

Let me show you how sometimes you can create patterns made of simple stitches for fast and fun surface filling.

In this lesson, we will hand embroider the motel. I will show you how I mix strands from different embroidery flosses to achieve a color-graded surface. With the color grading technique, you can not only create more playful designs―the hand embroidery process of filling up big shapes is also more fun.

Color Gradient Motel

Now we will hand embroider the small quirky details around the two main hand-embroidered subjects of our design. Those little embroideries and the choice of colors are the complimentary finesses of our project that will make the design complete.

Details 1

19m

Details 2

Let's embroider the rest of our details: the chair, the table, the sun, and the flower wrapping around the horn of our oryx.

Let's try different placements of hand embroidery on different types of clothing. I will show you which placements are interesting for me while also explaining the practical side of each placement.

Different Placements

Washing and Maintaining Your Embroidered Clothing

In this lesson, I will talk about the maintenance of your embroidered clothing.

Module 5

Learn how to customize your clothes with embroidered architectural patterns

12 lessons (1h 44m)

Materials and Supplies

In this lesson, I will show you the materials and supplies we’ll use and tell a little about each of them. Bear in mind that if you’re using very bright and saturated colors or old threads, you have to check if they bleed in water, so you can wash your clothes afterward.

What Clothes You Can Upcycle

In this lesson, I will tell how to approach each fabric, the difference between stitching on a t-shirt and trainers.

In this lesson, you will learn how to use hoop, thread needle, start and finish stitches so they won’t get out of fabric.

Embroidery Basics

12m

Basic Stitches 1

In this lesson, you will learn basic hand embroidery stitches: straight stitch, back stitch, satin stitch, split stitch, stem stitch, long and short stitch and French knots.

We finish off the lesson on basic stitching.

Basic Stitches 2

How I Come Up With Designs

In this lesson, I will show you how I draw my designs.

Color Choice

In this lesson, you will learn to choose the color palette for your project, based on the color of cloth you embroider on.

How to Transfer Design on Fabric

In this lesson, I will show you two ways to transfer designs on fabric. And you will also learn which one to use for which fabric.

Embroidery on the Garment 1

In this lesson, you will embroider one of the designs using stitches we learned in the second unit.

Embroidery on the Garment 2

In the second part of the lesson, we finish embroidering the garment.

In this lesson, you will learn how to remove the stabiliser and make sure your stitches are secure.

After Embroidery

Care for Clothes With Hand Embroidery

In this lesson, I will share tips for caring about clothes with embroidery. You will learn what will happen if you place embroidery in a washing machine.

Module 6

Learn to create your own designs on tulle by exploring the different uses this material has to offer and applying them to a variety of mediums

12 lessons (2h 11m)

Some Types of Tulle

To begin with, I will talk to you about the different types of tulle that there are and how we can use them in the best way depending on the project that we want to carry out.

In this lesson I will show you my favorite materials to use for tulle and everything you need to carry out your project.

Materials

12m

Inspiration and work space

My greatest source of inspiration has always been nature. I love flowers, animals and all the natural elements that I can find. In this lesson I will show you how I use this source of inspiration in my works and projects. In addition, I will teach you how to calculate the workspace where you will install your future design.

In this lesson we will focus on creating the sketch for the project. I will show you how I work it through watercolor, but you can find your own way to develop this part of the process.

Final Sketch

Transfer of the design to the tulle

In this lesson I will teach you everything you need to be able to transfer your design to the fabric and finally embroider.

Pondering stitches

Once the design is ready and the frame is assembled, it is necessary to know how to start and where to direct the first stitches. I will teach you some exercises and stitches so that you can work lights and shadows with the direction of the needle.

Embroidering the base of the design 1

Let's start embroidering! Here I will show you how to start embroidery. First you have to make a first layer, the base layer, and then more layers are added to give much more detail to the design. Now we will focus on the base.

Embroidering the base of the design 2

Working on the base we can see the color palette applied and determine where the light and dark colors go to give the embroidery greater depth. I will give you some tips to make this part amazing.

12m

Layer Application

In this lesson I will teach you how to embroider using layers, not only to give more detail to the design, but also to make your work a little easier and tidier.

18m

Creating the patch

In this lesson you will learn how to get the embroidery ready. So later you can transform it later into a patch.

Patch fixation

Now I will give you some tips to fix the patch on the surface you want and you will see how my design looks on a pair of sneakers.