I loved visiting my great-aunt as a young girl because she had the most beautiful sofa cushions I’d ever seen. When I discovered she had embroidered them herself, I was determined to make something equally beautiful when I grew older.
I have not made anything quite as stunning as those cushions, but I have enjoyed creating gifts, homewares, accessories, and decorated clothing. You do not need a great-aunt to teach you hand embroidery: close-up videos and clear instructions can guide your first stitches.
You can start with free lessons for the essential stitches. Paid courses are worth considering when they teach techniques or projects that free tutorials skip.
From over 150 embroidery courses on Class Central, I picked 10 for this Best Courses Guide.
Which Embroidery Course Is Right for You?
|
Best free place to start
DB’s Embroidery via YouTube
|
7 hrs |
|
Best for structured foundations
Skillshare
|
4 hrs |
|
Best for modern stitch variety
Skillshare
|
2 hrs |
|
Best for the whole craft
The Great Courses Plus
|
3.5 hrs |
|
Best for designing your own patterns
Craftsy
|
3 hrs |
|
Best for customizing denim
Craftsy
|
1.5 hrs |
|
Best for visible mending
Craftsy
|
1 hr |
|
Best for leveling up
Skillshare
|
20 min |
|
Best for free-motion stitching
Craftsy
|
3.5 hrs |
|
Best for digitizing designs
Craftsy
|
3 hrs |
Free stitch lessons cover the basics, so paid courses should take you beyond the sampler hoop
You can learn to embroider properly without spending a cent. Hand Embroidery for Beginners is a strong place to start because its seven hours of close-up, follow-along videos teach dozens of stitches from zero.
How We Chose These Courses
I looked for courses that show the hands clearly and offer skills beyond the stitch tutorials already available free.
- Close-up video that shows needle placement, thread direction, and stitch tension
- A broad stitch library, including back stitch, satin stitch, and French knots
- Lessons on transferring designs or turning photos and drawings into patterns
- Projects on real items such as denim, clothing, or knits
- Clear instruction in a distinct technique, such as sashiko or machine embroidery
The ranking leans on learner reviews on Class Central, ratings on host platforms, and what learners say on Reddit. Class Central has tracked online courses since 2011, and our small team has completed 400+ courses. I have embroidered by hand for years. Design It, Stitch It: Hand Embroidery earned its place by teaching design transfer and original pattern-making. Start with Hand Embroidery for Beginners, then practice a few basic stitches on scrap fabric before choosing a project.
Best Free Embroidery Course (DB’s Embroidery)
Hand Embroidery for Beginners is a substantial free starting point in this guide. Its 58 close-up demonstrations cover major stitch families, including chain, back, straight, herringbone, blanket, and filling stitches.
Work through 15-, 26-, or 30-stitch samplers, then browse lessons on flowers, leaves, borders, lettering, and a few applied designs. You need only a hoop, needle, and floss.
This is a self-navigated playlist, not a guided course. It has no set path or projects, and it does not cover transferring designs or making patterns. It also assumes you know how to start and end your needlecraft. For a structured beginner route with a project, see Hand Embroidery 101: Foundational Stitches & Techniques.
| Provider | YouTube |
| Instructors | DB’s Embroidery |
| Duration | 7 hours |
| Level | Beginner |
| Cost | Free |
| Certificate | No |
Best Beginner Embroidery Course (Skillshare)
Hand Embroidery 101: Foundational Stitches & Techniques is a structured paid foundation for beginners who want more than a loose collection of stitch videos. It covers supplies, hooping, threading your needle, knotting, and starting and finishing thread before moving into stitch practice.
The course thoroughly covers methods for transferring designs: six methods, with a downloadable cheat sheet matching methods to fabrics. Guided exercises cover backstitch, laid stitch, French knots, and pistil stitch, followed by a floral branch project. Templates, a stitch plan, and a supplies list support the project.
Learners praise Heidi Sternberg’s clear, organized instruction. The limitation is scope: it ends with one traditional floral project and does not cover creating original patterns. For that, see Design It, Stitch It: Hand Embroidery.
| Provider | Skillshare |
| Instructors | Heidi Sternberg |
| Duration | 4 hours 11 minutes |
| Level | Beginner |
| Rating | 4.7/5.0 (19 ratings on Skillshare) |
| Cost | Paid (Skillshare subscription) |
| Certificate | No |
Best Modern Embroidery Course (Skillshare)
Modern Embroidery: Beginner to Pro is the guide’s modern, color-and-texture-focused beginner pick. In under two hours, Ginny Núñez teaches 23 stitches, including dimensional options such as bullion knots, Pekinese stitch, woven picot, and spider-web wheels.
The lessons also cover color gradients and texture. You make a sampler from the included printable PDF pattern, leaving with a useful stitch reference. Learners praise the clear, well-organized instruction, though some stitches, especially the bullion knot, take practice.
It moves quickly and ends with a sampler rather than an applied project. For embroidering clothes, see Hand Embroidery on Denim.
| Provider | Skillshare |
| Instructors | Ginny Núñez |
| Duration | 1 hour 57 minutes |
| Level | Beginner |
| Rating | 4.7/5.0 (24 ratings on Skillshare) |
| Cost | Paid (Skillshare subscription) |
| Certificate | No |
Best Comprehensive Embroidery Course (The Great Courses Plus)
Hand Embroidery is the most complete beginner option here. Its 13 lessons move from supplies, design transfer, and hooping through roughly 19 stitches, then cover lettering, finishing, and floss management.
Kat McTee also applies the basics to denim and knit garments, including stabilizers for T-shirts and baby clothes. She is an exhibited textile artist and embroidery instructor at Austin art schools.
The 4.2 rating reflects complaints about a sampler pattern that prints at the wrong size, not the teaching. Reviewers consistently praise McTee’s instruction; enlarge or freehand the pattern if needed.
It requires a subscription, though a free trial is available. For a free, less systematic introduction, try Hand Embroidery for Beginners.
| Provider | The Great Courses Plus |
| Instructors | Kat McTee |
| Duration | 3 hours 19 minutes |
| Level | Beginner |
| Rating | 4.2/5.0 (23 ratings on The Great Courses Plus) |
| Cost | Paid (free trial) |
| Certificate | No |
Best Embroidery Course for Designing Your Own Patterns (Craftsy)
Design It, Stitch It: Hand Embroidery is the paid pick for beginners who want to move beyond copying ready-made designs. It covers how to turn your own photos and drawings into embroidery patterns.
Jessica Marquez also builds a broad stitch foundation across flat, looped, knotted, crossed, and fill stitches. Coverage includes satin stitch, French knots, fishbone, cretan, and bullion stitches.
The course also covers three ways to transfer designs to fabric, including two without an iron, and stabilizing strategies for embroidering stretchy knits such as T-shirts. It also suits returning embroiderers who need a refresher.
| Provider | Craftsy |
| Instructors | Jessica Marquez |
| Duration | 3 hours 10 minutes |
| Level | Beginner |
| Cost | Paid |
| Certificate | No |
Best Denim Embroidery Course (Craftsy)
Hand Embroidery on Denim is a short, project-based course for refreshing denim shirts, jeans, and jackets you already own. Textile artist Kat McTee uses botanical motifs and hand-stitched patches to customize everyday pieces.
It covers choosing denim-friendly fabrics, designs, and colors, then applies them across three common garment types. The patching lesson also makes this a useful pick for upcycling worn clothing rather than starting a new embroidery project from scratch.
For a more mending-focused approach, see Sashiko Embroidery Masterclass.
| Provider | Craftsy |
| Instructors | Kat McTee |
| Duration | 1 hour 37 minutes |
| Level | Beginner |
| Cost | Paid |
| Certificate | No |
Best Sashiko Embroidery Course (Craftsy)
Sashiko Embroidery Masterclass: Traditional Japanese Techniques for Modern Sewing is the pick for visible mending and upcycling clothes you already own. It covers sashiko, a Japanese technique using simple running stitches to form geometric patterns, and boro-inspired patching with visible stitches.
In about 70 minutes, six sessions cover materials, straight- and curved-line patterns, and boro-inspired pieces. The compact format suits stitchers who want to give frayed jeans, worn workwear, or tired textiles a decorative second life.
This is a specialty pick for its traditional technique and practical repair focus. It launched in 2025 and has no ratings yet on Class Central or Craftsy.
| Provider | Craftsy |
| Instructors | Mary Beth Temple |
| Duration | 1 hour 10 minutes |
| Level | Beginner |
| Cost | Paid |
| Certificate | No |
Best Intermediate Embroidery Course (Skillshare)
Intermediate Hand Embroidery is the guide’s step-up pick for stitchers who already know the basics and want new floral techniques.
Amanda Neely covers eight intermediate-to-advanced stitches, including woven picot flowers, cast-on roses, bullion stitches, fishbone leaves, buttonhole petals, and satin-stitch leaves. You work them into a provided floral pattern, then can adapt them to your own designs.
At 20 minutes, this is a focused stitch lesson rather than a full course. Beginners should start with Hand Embroidery 101: Foundational Stitches & Techniques.
It is the guide’s most-rated pick, with 4.4 out of 5 from 31 Skillshare ratings.
| Provider | Skillshare |
| Instructors | Amanda Neely |
| Duration | 20 minutes |
| Level | Intermediate |
| Rating | 4.4/5.0 (31 ratings on Skillshare) |
| Cost | Paid (Skillshare subscription) |
| Certificate | No |
Best Free-Motion Machine Embroidery Course (Craftsy)
Free-Motion Machine Embroidery teaches thread painting: guiding fabric freehand under a sewing machine needle to create stitched designs.
Terry White covers machine setup, tracing, stabilizing, hooping, and four practice pieces before projects including The Painted Bird. Lessons use painterly fill, seed stitching, and rayon thread, with troubleshooting throughout.
This is not computerized embroidery, where a machine automatically stitches a digital design. For that computerized approach, see Digitizing Machine Embroidery Designs. It best suits sewers or quilters who want to embellish projects with free-motion stitching.
| Provider | Craftsy |
| Instructors | Terry White |
| Duration | 3 hours 19 minutes |
| Level | Intermediate |
| Cost | Paid |
| Certificate | No |
Best Embroidery Course for Digitizing Designs (Craftsy)
Digitizing Machine Embroidery Designs covers turning drawings, digital art, and photos into stitch files for computerized embroidery machines. It is the guide’s most technical and specialized embroidery pick.
Cookie Gaynor demonstrates the process in Bernina and Brother software, while noting that the tools translate to most machine software. Lessons cover a redwork ribbon, creative fills, column stitches, appliqué, and shaded floral designs. Downloadable files support the exercises.
This course suits makers who have, or plan to buy, a computerized embroidery machine and software, particularly anyone who wants to design their own patterns rather than buy ready-made ones. For the hand-guided alternative without digitizing software, see Free-Motion Machine Embroidery.
| Provider | Craftsy |
| Instructors | Cookie Gaynor |
| Duration | 3 hours 1 minute |
| Level | Intermediate |
| Cost | Paid |
| Certificate | No |
More Resources
A few places to go beyond the courses above:
- Best Sewing Courses: the two machine picks assume you can already operate a sewing machine. If you can’t yet, this guide covers the basics.
- Embroiderers’ Guild of America: a nonprofit for needlework education, offering online studio classes, correspondence courses, and virtual lectures to members.
- r/Embroidery: a large community of nearly 900,000 stitchers sharing projects, feedback, and tips, whether they work by hand or machine.
Embroidery Course FAQ
Do these embroidery courses come with a certificate?
None of the ten picks offer a certificate. Embroidery courses focus on technique and finished pieces rather than credentials. What you take away is the skill and the things you make.
Can I learn embroidery for free?
Yes. The guide’s top pick, DB’s Embroidery’s “Hand Embroidery for Beginners” on YouTube, is free and runs about seven hours. Several paid picks are on Skillshare or Craftsy, which usually offer a free trial.
What supplies do I need to start hand embroidery?
You need an embroidery hoop, embroidery needles, floss, cotton or linen fabric, and small scissors. A water-soluble pen helps transfer a design. Machine embroidery also needs a sewing or embroidery machine.
How long does it take to learn embroidery?
You can learn the basic stitches in a few hours. The courses in this guide range from about 20 minutes to seven hours. Comfort and refinement come with practice over time.
The post 10 Best Embroidery Courses for 2026: Begin With Basics, Expand Your Skills appeared first on The Report by Class Central.
