14 Machine Embroidery Artists You Should Follow

Gear Threads Is The Mr X Stitch Machine Embroidery Column - Presented By Urban Threads!

Welcome to Gear Threads, where we showcase artists who are elevating machine embroidery to new heights!

It’s pretty amazing what you can produce with the humble sewing machine; just drop those feed dogs and you can machine embroider all kinds of art. We’ve got tons of instructional posts here on MrXStitch that will help you get to grips with this exciting technique, and if you want inspiration, here are fifteen of our favourite machine embroidery artists for you to enjoy! Click on the links in each post and you can read our review of their work!

Nike Schroeder - Edgar Eduard Emma Herbst Photographer

Nike Schroeder is a Los Angeles based artist who uses free machine embroidery to explore human experience and play at the edges of abstraction and surrealism.

Follow Nike Schroeder on Instagram
Visit Nike Schroeder's website
Marloes Duyker - Lollipop

Marloes Duyker is a illustrator from Utrecht in the Netherlands, who specialises in fabricated illustrations creating with a sewing machine.

Follow Marloes Duyker on Instagram
Visit Marloes Duyker's website
Rosie James - Waiting For This Meeting To Start
Rosie James – Waiting For This Meeting To Start

Rosie James is a textile artist from Rochester, England. She captures human nature using machine and hand embroidery, immortalising fleeting moments that might escape us otherwise; allowing us to stop and stare at a world we might have missed.

Follow Rosie James on Instagram
Visit Rosie James' website
Meredith Woolnough - Ginko Biloba
Meredith Woolnough – Ginko Biloba

Meredith Woolnough is a visual artist from New South Wales who uses free machine embroidery and soluble fabrics to create mesmerising organic-inspired sculptures that are as technically triumphant as they are visually beautiful.

Follow Meredith Woolnough on Instagram
Visit Meredith Woolnough's website
Oliver Bliss - Xochiphili (2021)
Oliver Bliss – Xochiphili

Oliver Bliss is a Worcester-based embroidery artist whose recent “SoftLad” series of large-scale machine stitched tapestries explores the difference between social media images and the reality of modern manhood.

Follow Oliver Bliss on Instagram
Visit Oliver Bliss' website
Jess Larson - Fickle
Jess Larson – Fickle

Jessica Larson is a mixed media artist from Minnesota. Her machine embroidered art explores contemporary pressure on feminine norms, by reproducing classic icons with a subversive twist.

Follow Jess Larson on Instagram
Visit Jess Larson's website
Paul Nosa - Birth Of A Unicorn - machine embroidery
Paul Nosa – Birth Of A Unicorn

Paul Nosa is an artist from Tucson, Arizona. His pedal powered sewing machine allows him to create freestyle improvised embroideries on request – bleeding edge creativity!

Follow Paul Nosa on Instagram
Visit Paul Nosa's website
Stacey Chapman - Bulldog - Machine Embroidery
Stacey Chapman – Bulldog

Stacey Chapman is an embroidery artist from Margate, whose machine embroidered portraits capture the humanity in all her subjects with style and grace.

Follow Stacey Chapman on Instagram
Visit Stacey Chapman's website
Jane Sanders - Ed Sheeran
Jane Sanders – Ed Sheeran

Jane Sanders is a textile artist from Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK whose machine stitched and applique portraits of pop icons are insanely impressive.

Follow Jane Sanders on Instagram
Visit Jane Sanders' website
Jose Romussi - Life is Beautiful - sewing machine on photo (2013)
Jose Romussi – Life is Beautiful

Jose Romussi is an mixed media artist from Chile who fuses edgy machine embroidery with nostalgic photography to create eye-catching pieces of urgent urban art.

Follow Jose Romussi on Instagram
Visit Jose Romussi's website
Gillian Bates - Brighton Carousel - Machine Embroidery
Gillian Bates – Brighton Carousel

Gillian Bates is an artist from Eastbourne, UK, who uses machine embroidery to capture intimate memories of seaside Britain, presenting a timeless catalogue of understated vernaculars.

Follow Gillian Bates on Instagram
Visit Gillian Bates' website
Kathryn Harmer Fox - The Makers
Kathryn Harmer Fox – The Makers

Kathryn Harmer Fox is a mixed media artist from South Africa whose free machine embroidery creates stunning portraits of profound figures.

Follow Kathryn Harmer Fox on Instagram
Visit Kathryn Harmer Fox' website
Kirsty Whitlock - Bags of Aggro
Kirsty Whitlock – Bags of Aggro

Kirsty Whitlock is a Leicester-based textile artist whose mixed media work deconstructs newspapers, carrier bags and discarded items to make political statements.

Follow Kirsty Whitlock on Instagram
Alicia Ross - Motherboard 5 - Machine Embroidered Cross Stitch
Alicia Ross – Motherboard 5

Alicia Ross is a mixed media artist from Cleveland, Ohio. She takes cross stitch and electrifies it with large scale, exotically charged machine stitched pieces.

Follow Alicia Ross on Instagram
Visit Alicia Ross' website

If that selection doesn’t have you itching for some stitching, then you can’t say we didn’t try! There are so many fantastic machine embroidery artists out there, and if you are using a sewing machine to create your art, we’d love to hear from you, so be sure to get in touch!

    This is free machine embroidery and if you want to find out more about it, check out our dedicated post!
    We’ve featured some great free machine artists on the site – here are four you might like!