Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Danielle Clough studied art direction and graphic design before embarking on a career in visual art, digital design and thing-making. She finds inspiration from a new tool or challenge, a colour she’s recently fallen in love with or a strange surface that begs to be stitched on. Her creative goal is to express the best of human emotion through art and hopes that her work evokes happiness. For more on Danielle follow @fiance_knowles on Instagram.

Vivid, joyful, unconventional.

I’ve been stitching in some capacity or another since I could remember, mainly making badly fitted clothes as a young teenager, or plush toys for friends while studying. I started embroidery about 10 years ago, but I didn’t know what it was then. I called it thread sketching, and thought I had invented it! It was only years later in 2016 that it went from being my hobby to my vocation, and by then I knew I was not the first!

3-9 Embroidery needles, a beautiful patterned cotton or bright linen, 550 and 820 stranded cotton for saturated and interesting shadows and 892 pink for a flamingo pink pop. Every piece needs a little pink pop. You will never regret investing in solid beautiful snips (if you love them enough you never misplace them) and having a good assortment of floche for your final details. I find it gives me that happy finale feeling every embroidery needs to know when it's done.

What inspires me varies. I find inspiration from a new tool or challenge, a colour I’ve recently fallen in love with or a strange surface that begs to be stitched on. Inspiration is an amazing but fleeting force that, like a flash of energy, comes and goes. To me its motivation that is more important, it’s the driver that takes the inspiration or idea and turns it into something tangible. I am motivated to learn, and to get better at my craft. I am motivated to connect to others and travel with my passion. If inspiration is the feeling of hearing your favourite song, motivation is getting up and dancing.

Long and short stitch, and lots of them.

Yoh, this is an impossible question! The only original work I have in my home is my portrait of David Letterman that I created for his show on Netflix so I’m quite attached to it, and my portrait Two Gin, but even saying this aloud feels like I am betraying all the other works that I love. I have such fondness and even connection to them for different reasons. When you spend so much time sitting working with one thing, thinking, slowly indulging in colours and shapes, fixing, building and layering, it becomes a bit like a companion. Or am I just thread obsessed?

My mum taught me to thread a needle, tie a quick-roll-knot and running stitch. The rest as they say..

DMC has partnered with Danielle Clough, a talented embroidery artist from South Africa, and Skillshare to create an online embroidery workshop for intermediate stitchers. In the workshop, Danielle helps you take your stitching and creativity to the next level. Drawing on her years of experience, she breaks down three intermediate techniques: portraiture, creative exploration through collage, and embellishment, which will elevate your favourite hobby to an art form. Advancing in your embroidery isn't just about technique; it's also about discovering and honing your creative style and voice. This workshop helps intermediate and advanced embroiderers to do just that, from the comfort of their own homes.