The Cat Embroidery Portraits of Woobie Runt Crafts
Hello! My name is Chloe Feoranzo, and I am part of the duo that is Woobie Runt Crafts, a tiny craft-based vending shop run by myself and my mom. I specialize in hand embroidery with mixed media elements and while I am nowhere near a professional, I have been incredibly grateful for any opportunities that have come my way to create hand embroidered pieces for people and art exhibits. I discovered the love of embroidery about six years ago but have really started to deep dive into studying it in the last two years. I have started the Royal School of Needlework Certificate program but have only completed about half so far due to some scheduling conflicts. I started taking commissions at the end of 2024 when a serendipitous meeting led to a commission of her two cats. Since then, I have been doing my best to get better with each commission and project that comes my way. In the past year, I have felt a little more brave enough to branch out into submitting for a few art exhibits and navigating the world of vending for art markets. Amazingly enough, I have even had two of my pieces sold in exhibits, which have been a wonderful surprise and delight.
Photos by Woobie Runt Crafts
I have been asked by the lovely people of Embroydica to write a blog about my creative process and for any preferred techniques I could share with whoever reads this blog. Thank you for asking and onto the process!
At first, I started by creating actual drawn sketches with pencil, pen and paper of the portrait idea before any stitching was started, but I was persuaded to try the artist app Procreate, which has changed my sketching game entirely for the better. My drawing ability is only so strong, so this is the best format for me, but if you are a strong illustrator, I encourage you to use that as an idea basis. My brain works best by creating as I go, so I do not always need a strong beginning sketch, but for some people they need to see it fully on the page before getting started. With that being said, here is an example of what an early idea sketch for me looks like:
As you can see, I basically take the image and add my ideas around the face. I always trace the cat’s face directly from the image because I want to get the exact shape and with any commission I need to get the face as close to the actual pet as possible. For me, this is when tracing is being used as a useful tool, since most of the actual work is done with embroidery and I need a clear guideline for the faces. For this piece in particular, I was inspired by the bob in bobtail to create a 1920s flapper look, since they were famous for their bob hairstyles during that era. For the outfit inspiration, I looked up old photos of dresses that would look noticeable enough from the waist up, as with the portraits it can be difficult to fit a full-length body image in the oval frame, especially as this specific portrait is only 4x5 inches. I also wanted to make sure I had the telltale long pearl necklaces and some sort of typical feathered headpiece also common in that era. Here is an example of how the portraits look once finished:
As an aside, I do make cleaner digital sketches for commissions so the client can see the vision more clearly and can make any major adjustments or suggestions before the stitching starts, such as this sketch of a Cowboy Cat for a commission:
Next is picking out the cloth and prepping the background cloth with a color of choice. I use thrifted shirts with a sturdy fabric such as a typical business button-up shirt and paint that can be used on cloth. The type of paint I usually prefer is the Folk Art Multi-Surface brand, available at Michael’s. You can use a solid pre-colored shirt, but I find that the painted background gives them a more portrait feel. Then I start the transferring of the image by drawing out the basic shapes of the image onto water-soluble paper that can be covered up with the stitching or gently wiped off easily with Q-tips. These portraits do not go in the wash, but the material can be sewn over easily and does not affect the image. I try not to draw directly onto the fabric as it can interfere with lighter colored threads. There are many different ways of transferring images of which I have learned a variety but that is a different conversation altogether.
A very important step I have learned if you are specifically doing these types of portraits is to sew the face on separately from the portrait. This brings more dimension to the portrait, especially when putting them in outfits. When using the transfer paper, I cut the head from the body and then stick the head onto a felt that matches the main base color of the animal in a smaller hoop. This has been a more recent development in the last few months and I have really enjoyed the results. Plus, this technique makes it easier to work on the images away from the main piece itself and can be worked on when traveling or stuck waiting for something.
Another important step is to use felt appliqué techniques for the mouth, forehead, nose and occasionally the front of the ears. I trace the outline of the mouth and forehead from the traced image onto another piece of water-soluble paper and then the nose. Then you place the newly traced mouth/forehead onto felt, cut the shape out and then tack it on top of the traced face, lining up with the image of the cat and take off the water-soluble paper for cleaner thread filling. Tack down the new layer of felt with some simple running or seed stitching and then repeat for the nose. These can be tricky to cut out if the image is small, so make sure you have sharp enough fabric scissors for this step.
Finally, it is time to start stitching! Color matching is key but can be challenging depending on access to getting thread easily in your area, so just get the closest you can. I rely on using mainly DMC floss as much as possible, but everyone has their preferred thread type. I tend not to use different thread thicknesses as that can make a project very expensive very quickly, so I mainly stick with what is available, which for me is DMC. I find that having a stock of a variety of grays and browns will be your best tool for shadowing. And whatever you do, keep track of whichever white you are using — you will absolutely see a difference in the whites if they get mixed up (speaking from personal experience).
I am still learning the range of embroidery needles that are available, but I find with the type of portraits I am creating a needle that is small, skinny and sharp is best. For actual stitches, I use either a split stitch or a long and short stitch, as I’ve found those make the best kind of fur textures thus far. I find it is easiest when it comes to shadows to go from background to foreground. Meaning if you see shadows under the chin, nose, ears, etc. start your deeper color shadows there after the eyes have been completed. There are a lot more shadows hidden in pictures than at first glance, so study the image often and remind yourself as you go along to keep track of where the shadows are. Some people start with markings first, which is recommended as well — they can always be defined more as the piece develops. Making a note of the markings on your transferred water-soluble paper is a good way to keep any specific shape showing up in the piece. You will find you will probably have to layer threads, such as doing a darker color then doing highlights with lighter threads on top. This is a great way to add markings you might have missed as well in any base stitching that you do.
Speaking of eyes, I am still trying to figure out the best way to make them as realistic as I can. I usually start stitching with the eyes first as they really are the most important. I find that trying to get as many colors in as I can helps make them more realistic — For instance, if the eye goes from darker to light starting at the pupil, then trying to follow the exact patterns that are in the eyes of the image. I have also found that stitching bigger sized pupils makes for a better face for portraits. Nothing too large but larger than the slit eyes they can have in certain light. Following the shape of the eye helps make them more realistic as well — some cats have really solid eye colors in certain photos, but I recommend trying to fit in as much color variety as possible. If you see multiples of my portraits, you can see the learning process of the eyes even in the ones posted onto this website.
Photos by Woobie Runt Crafts
After completing the face on the felt, I cut as close as possible to the stitches without cutting the threads. Sometimes a few accidentally get trimmed, which can be sewn over or tucked away when completing the edges. If you are familiar with stumpwork, this cutting step is the same just without the wire stability. Then I position the head onto the outfit and start sewing down the edges of the face. This part takes a little extra time, but as previously mentioned, the sewing on felt makes the face a little more dimensional, so I do not mind the extra time it takes to sew on.
As an extra little detail, sometimes I add little stitches in the background if it makes sense to the theme of the piece — such as stars or music notes. Mostly, I try to maintain the focus on the cat itself, as it takes awhile to complete and some outfits already have a lot of detail in them.
I hope this blog has encouraged others to try out a portrait of their own or even to add mixed media elements to their own projects. I adore doing embroidery and hope to continue making handmade art for as long as my hands allow. Thank you again to the people of Embroydica for the opportunity to write about something I spend a lot of my focus on. And thank you to anyone who took the time to read this blog as well. I wish you all for your projects to turn out exactly as you hope.
All the best,
- Chloe
P.S. If you are in Southern California on October 10-11 of this year, come to CatCon at the Pasadena Convention Center and stop by our booth to say hi! We have our first booth there this year and I love meeting fellow hand embroidery enthusiasts.
