Thread Painting Tutorial

+ a free pattern!

Thread painting is quite possibly the most meditative art form I’ve ever come across. Little else in life is as soothing as the zone I get into as I’m choosing a range of colors to blend together to create a realistic depiction of a subject. My subjects have always been plants, flowers, birds or trees, but my hope is that, with this post, I can give you tips and tricks that you can apply to any thread painting subject. I’m also sharing a complete PDF thread painting pattern so that you can take everything I talk about in this post and immediately use it in your very own work of art.

So what exactly is thread painting?

Thread painting is exactly what it sounds like. It is the art of using thread as a painter would use paint. So how does that work? To create a realistic painting, the painter begins with color mixing to come up with a full range of value to use in their piece in order to blend colors together and achieve a realistic look. As an embroiderer, you will choose those colors from whatever thread supplier you use (I typically use DMC Embroidery Floss as it has a huge range of colors) and use them to gradually fade from one color to another. For me, that means I like to buy a range of colors and then pull from those as I work.

My top techniques + tips

It’s all about the color choice