Butterfly in a laurel wreath hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Butterfly in a laurel wreath: preview of the stitched design

A butterfly with its wings spread sits inside a laurel wreath. Two stems of dark green stem stitch rise from a pink bow at the foot and stay open at the top, lined with satin stitch leaves, each half dark green and half light green. The fore wings and hind wings are outlined in navy stem stitch, each with a pink satin stitch panel and a row of gold French knots. The head, the thorax and the bands of the body are satin stitch, the bands navy and gold by turns, and the feelers are navy stem stitch tipped with gold French knots. The bow and bow tails are satin stitch, the bow knot padded satin stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 6 inch hoop up.

5 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)	1.7 × 1.8 in	4.3 × 4.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.6 × 2.7 in	6.6 × 6.9 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.5 × 3.6 in	8.9 × 9.1 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.3 × 4.5 in	10.9 × 11.4 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.1 × 6.3 in	15.5 × 16 cm	9/16 in (14 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 9/16 in (14 mm) across. Satin stitches longer than about 12 mm (just under 1/2 in) tend to work loose: divide the shape into sections, or work it in long and short stitch.
In a 3 or 4 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 986 Very Dark Forest GreenStems and darker half of each leaf
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter half of each leaf
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseBow, bow tails, bow knot and panels of the wings
DMC 336 Navy BlueFeelers, hind wings, fore wings, navy bands of the body, thorax and head
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawTips of the feelers, knots in the wings and gold bands of the body

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 strandsStems, feelers, hind wings, fore wings
Satin stitch 2 strandsLeaves (each half slanted to the center vein, in its own color), bow, bow tails, panels of the wings, bands of the body, thorax, head
Padded satin stitch 2 strandsBow knot
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsTips of the feelers, knots in the wings

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.