Butterfly with cloud scrolls hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 3 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Butterfly with cloud scrolls: preview of the stitched design

A butterfly spreads lobed fore wings and long-tailed hind wings, with a cloud scroll curling inside each wing, a ringed eye spot on each hind wing and feelers that end in spirals. The wings and the abdomen, the long tail end of the body, are stem stitch. The rings across the abdomen, the scrolls, the inner edge lines and the feelers are back stitch. The head and the chest are satin stitch, and the eye spots and the dots along the wing edges are French knots.

Size and details

Easy. In a hoop of 6 inches or less: stem stitch, back stitch and French knots, with a little satin stitch; in a larger hoop the widest satin stitches are long.

3 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 × 1.4 in	4.1 × 3.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.1 in	6.1 × 5.3 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.2 × 2.9 in	8.1 × 7.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4 × 3.6 in	10.2 × 9.1 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.6 × 5 in	14.2 × 12.7 cm	3/8 in (10 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 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseFore wings, hind wings and tails, inner edge lines, feelers, abdomen, abdomen rings, chest, and head
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseCloud scrolls and eye spot rings
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawEye spots and edge dots

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

Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsFore wings, hind wings and tails, abdomen
Back stitch 2 strandsInner edge lines, cloud scrolls, eye spot rings, feelers, abdomen rings
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsEye spots and edge dots
Satin stitch 2 strandsChest, head

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.