Mandala butterfly hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 4 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Mandala butterfly: preview of the stitched design

A butterfly seen from above spreads its wings, each one patterned like a slice of a mandala with a fan of pointed petals between two arcs, a row of French knots inside the scalloped edge and more by the tips of the petals. The wings, their arcs and the feelers are back stitch, the petals are stem stitch, the body is satin stitch, and the head and the feeler tips are French knots too.

Size and details

Easy. Back stitch, stem stitch and French knots, with some short satin stitches.

4 colors of floss and 4 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.6 × 1.2 in	4.1 × 3 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 1.8 in	6.1 × 4.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.2 × 2.4 in	8.1 × 6.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4 × 3.1 in	10.2 × 7.9 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.6 × 4.3 in	14.2 × 10.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)

In a 3 inch hoop the French knots are drawn smaller than about 2 mm (a little over 1/16 in). Use one strand of floss for them there, or choose a larger hoop.

The pattern is drawn inside a circle about half an inch (1.3 cm) smaller all around than the hoop.

What you need

DMC 336 Navy BlueHind wings, fore wings, body, feelers, feeler tips and head
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseHind wing arcs and fore wing arcs
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseHind wing petals and fore wing petals
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawKnots on the hind wings and knots on the fore wings

The floss is six-strand cotton; the stitch guide says how many strands to use. You also need a hoop, an embroidery needle (a size 7 to 9 suits two or three strands) and plain cotton or linen fabric. To frame the piece in its hoop, cut a square 3 inches (8 cm) wider than the hoop: a 9 inch (23 cm) square for a 6 inch hoop.

Stitch guide

Back stitch 2 strandsHind wings, hind wing arcs, fore wings, fore wing arcs, feelers
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsHind wing petals, fore wing petals
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsKnots on the hind wings, knots on the fore wings, feeler tips, head
Satin stitch 2 strandsBody

Getting it onto your fabric

The PDF holds the pattern twice at actual size: once as drawn, and once mirrored for an iron-on transfer pen. Print it at 100% with scaling off and check the one-inch square (25.4 mm) with a ruler before you trace. How to transfer a pattern explains tracing, carbon paper and the other ways. The files are under Downloads.