Furry Nice Embroidery Class Review

Back in April, I began the Furry Nice Embroidery class offered by Nicole at Follow the White Bunny and it was awesome!

I am so glad I did it. It really took me out of my comfort zone with my embroidery - which is exactly what I was hoping it would do. 

First of all, the class was worth every penny. Nicole did an excellent job with her tutorials and weekly lessons. We had a private Flickr group to post photos and ask questions - which Nicole was quick to answer those questions and offer advice to us students.

I loved the structure of the class also. There was a private blog just for the class where each week for 7 weeks a new lesson was posted to download and work at our own pace. The lessons were very detailed and easy to understand. 

The class taught us how to create depth in our embroidery and how to do basic shading - which I have always wanted to learn. I have been a follower of Nicole's blog for some time now and love her stitching techniques. When I found out that she was offering a class to share some of her tips and tricks - I knew I should not pass up the chance to learn! :)

Here are some progress photos of my polar bear project from the class - along with a few things I learned.

* Use a standard pencil to trace your pattern!

Ok - this may not be a huge deal to a lot of stitchers out there - but I have been doing embroidery now   for over 8 years and never once thought to use a pencil to trace my pattern onto the fabric. I've used heat transfer pens and pencils, transfer paper, disappearing ink pens, water soluable pens - but never once used a basic pencil. It worked perfect. 

*Use one strand of floss to stitch 

This took me way out my comfort zone. I have never used only one strand of floss to stitch before. Two strands but never just one. I first had trouble with needle size. The holes were too big in my fabric (which is another story - I would choose a different fabric if I were to stitch this bear again). I ended up using a size 10 needle and that seemed to work the best. 

*Furry Stitching! Learning the use of colors for shading.

Here the fur is complete.

Finished the scarf. This was done in satin stitch.

My favorite thing I learned was to use the satin stitch for the flowers. I love how they look. No more only using lazy daisy stitches for my flowers. (Although I did do just one flower with the lazy daisy stitch... just because..)

All done! Up close.

Finished! 

I would definitely recommend this class to anyone who is looking to add a new skill to their embroidery. For more information on the class check it out here! Sign up for the newsletter so you will know when the next class becomes available!