How-to guide
How to embroider a cat: a beginner's step-by-step
To embroider a cat, trace a clear photo into simple line art, then back stitch the outline and pointed ears with 2 strands of black floss. Satin stitch the pupils and the small triangle of the nose, leaving the highlights bare. Add a few fur lines, then the whiskers last, each one long straight stitch.
First, a pattern of your cat
Our pattern maker only draws dogs for now. Show it a cat and it turns the photo away. So for a cat, you make the line drawing yourself, by tracing a printed photo at a bright window. Turning a photo into a pattern shows the tracing step by step. Here's what to trace for a cat:
- The outline of the head and ears. Mark the exact tip of each ear with a dot. Those corners are the cat.
- The eye shapes and the pupils. Shade the pupils solid and leave a small round highlight blank in each one.
- The nose and mouth. A small triangle for the nose, one short line down from its point, and a soft curve out to each side.
- A few fur lines. Short strokes on the cheeks, between the ears and on the chest. Fewer than you think.
- Where the whiskers start. Just the roots. You'll add the whiskers by eye at the very end.
The photo matters as much as it does for a dog: face toward the camera, both eyes sharp, soft daylight. How to choose a photo has the checklist. One cat-only tip: wait for the alert look. A sleepy cat's half-closed eyes are hard to trace and harder to stitch.
How to embroider a cat, step by step
- Set up. Your pattern on pre-washed linen, a 6-inch hoop tightened until a tap sounds like a drum, and about 18 inches of black floss with 2 strands pulled out one at a time. Start with a loop start, not a knot.
- Outline the head. Back stitch around the head, starting at the top between the ears. Keep each stitch about 1/8 inch, and shorter on tight curves.
- Sharpen the ear tips. Go down exactly in the corner hole at each tip, then come up on the far side of it. A rounded tip turns a cat into a bear. Add the inner ear line, and two or three short tufts if your cat has them.
- Outline the eyes. Back stitch each almond-shaped eye with short stitches, landing on the corner holes at each end so the eyes stay pointed, not round.
- Fill the pupils. Satin stitch each pupil from the middle out, stitching across its narrow way so every stitch stays short. Stop at the edge of the highlight and leave it bare.
- Fill the nose, then the mouth. Satin stitch the little triangle from the middle out. Then one short line down from its point, and a gentle curve out to each side.
- Add the fur. Short back stitches from the root toward the tip: fanning out across the cheeks, up between the ears, down the chest. Work one area at a time, so the thread on the back stays short.
- Whiskers last. One long straight stitch per whisker, in a single strand, fanning out from the muzzle. Three or four a side is plenty. A long whisker lies flatter split into two or three stitches along the same line.
- Rinse and finish. Rinse away the sheet or the marks, press it face down on folded towels, and finish the hoop.
Cat eyes: where the likeness lives
A cat's eyes are big for its face, so they matter even more than a dog's. The pupil changes with the light. In a bright photo it's a narrow upright slit; in soft or dim light it's wide and round. Stitch whichever your photo shows, because that's the cat you're looking at.
Put the highlight on the same side, at the same height, in both eyes. Do both eyes in one sitting, with the same thread and the same stitch angle: matching eyes matter more than perfect ones. More on fills and highlights in how to embroider eyes.
Free · 3D Stitch Simulator
Try satin stitch on a 3D hoop
Watch the first stitches, then tap where your needle goes. Turn the hoop, zoom in, and flip it over to check the back.
The simulator's eye lesson fills a pupil around a bare highlight. Flip the hoop to check nothing runs behind it.
Fur, stripes and markings
What to stitch for each kind of cat coat, in black thread
| Coat | What to stitch |
|---|---|
| Short-haired | Almost nothing beyond the outline: a few strokes on the cheeks and between the ears. |
| Long-haired | A soft, broken outline at the ruff and the ear tufts, with short strokes in small clusters. The same approach as a fluffy dog. |
| Tabby | Only the edges of the darkest stripes, plus the little M on the forehead as a few short lines. Filling every stripe gets heavy fast. |
| Tuxedo or bicolor | A line of back stitch where dark fur meets white, with the white areas left as bare linen. |
| Black | The outline, the ear edges and the eyes, from your brightest daylight photo. The same problem as a black dog. |
Fur lines always follow the way the coat grows. On a cat that's out and back from the nose across the cheeks, and up and back on the forehead. If in doubt, look at your photo, or watch which way your cat's fur lies when you stroke them. How to embroider fur has more.
If you stitch the whole cat
A head-and-shoulders portrait is the easiest start, but a whole cat makes a lovely shape. A cat sitting upright, or curled up asleep, is a simple outline that reads at once. Keep the whole cat about 4 to 5 inches tall in a 6-inch hoop. Paws are small rounded shapes with two or three short lines for the toes. Give the tail one long, smooth curve, with shorter stitches where it bends.
Common cat mistakes
- The ears look round.
- The stitches skipped the tip. Unpick the last stitch on each side and go down exactly in the corner hole.
- The eyes don't match.
- Stitch both in one sitting with the same stitch angle, and check the highlights sit on the same side.
- Whiskers look heavy.
- Use one strand, not two, and fewer whiskers. Three or four a side reads as a cat.
- A whisker catches and loops.
- It's too long for one stitch. Split it into two or three shorter stitches, and stitch whiskers last so nothing snags them.
- The tabby looks striped all over.
- Unpick the lighter stripes from the back. The darkest few edges are enough.
Stitch Your Cat is coming
We're teaching the pattern maker cats next: pointed ears, whiskers and those big eyes need drawing rules of their own, and we'd rather get them right than hand you a pattern that doesn't look like your cat. There's no date yet. Join the waitlist and you'll hear the day it opens. Have a dog too? The Stitch Your Dog course works today.
Questions people ask
What stitches do you use for a cat?
Back stitch for the outline, ears, eyes, mouth and fur lines, satin stitch for the pupils and the nose, and one straight stitch per whisker. Two strands of black floss for everything except the whiskers, which use one.
How do you embroider whiskers?
Add them last, so nothing snags them. Use a single strand and one long straight stitch per whisker, fanning out from the muzzle. Split a very long whisker into two or three shorter stitches along the same line.
How do you embroider cat fur?
With short back stitches that follow the way the coat grows, from the root toward the tip, mostly on the cheeks, forehead and chest. For a tabby, stitch only the edges of the darkest stripes.
How do you embroider a cat nose?
Fill the small triangle with satin stitch, working from the middle out to each side. Then add one short line down from its point and a gentle curve to each side for the mouth.
How do you embroider a cat face?
Back stitch the head and the pointed ears, landing exactly in the corner hole at each tip. Outline the eyes, satin stitch the pupils with a bare highlight, fill the nose, add the mouth, a few fur lines, and the whiskers last.
Sources: Royal School of Needlework Stitch Bank: Straight stitch · Royal School of Needlework Stitch Bank: Satin stitch · Stitch Your Dog pattern maker: its photo checks and its real output on our sample dogs (1 Nov 2026)