A black cat portrait being hand-embroidered in a wooden hoop beside its printed reference and embroidery scissors

You Could Get This Printed in an Hour. Here's Why You Don't.

A print of your photo takes a machine four minutes. This takes me hours by hand. The hours are the whole point.

Three custom embroidery commissions on dark fabric: a pet portrait, ultrasound keepsake, and child's handwriting hoops

September 1, 20263 min read

Why Everything I Make Is on Dark Fabric

Most hand embroidery lives on white or cream. Mine almost never does — and that one choice is the biggest reason my work looks the way it does.

A hand-embroidered ultrasound keepsake hoop on dark fabric

August 21, 20263 min read

The Grainy Little Photo That Started Everything

It's black and white. It's fuzzy. Half of it looks like weather radar. And you'd run back into a burning building for it.

A child's wobbly handwriting hand-embroidered onto dark fabric in a hoop

August 7, 20263 min read

The Drawing Isn't the Keepsake. The Kid Is.

You're not really framing the picture of the dog-cat-horse thing. You're framing the four-year-old who gripped the marker in a fist and handed it over like a signed treaty.

A hand-embroidered dog portrait with detailed fur stitching on dark fabric

July 24, 20264 min read

The Fur Is Where the Love Lives

People think a pet portrait is about getting the face right. It's not. It's the fur — the cowlick, the one floppy ear, the sock on just the back-left foot. That's where the hours go.

The maker of Sew Bitchin Stitchin hand-stitching on dark fabric in her Columbus, Ohio studio

July 7, 20263 min read

The Name's a Joke. The Work Isn't.

Sew Bitchin Stitchin raises an eyebrow. Then you see what it's actually for, and the eyebrow comes right back down. The attitude is in the name — the tenderness is in the thread.

A child's drawing of two faces hand-embroidered onto a hoop

June 26, 20263 min read

Turning Your Kid's Artwork Into a Hoop

You can't keep all of it — the fridge has limits, the recycling bin does not. But there's usually one drawing you'd keep forever if you could. That's the one we stitch.

A half-finished hand-embroidered dog portrait held beside its reference photo

June 12, 20263 min read

How to Choose the Perfect Pet-Portrait Photo

Your custom embroidered pet portrait is only ever as good as the photo you hand over. Here's how to pick the one that's almost definitely already in your camera roll.