Semicolon with butterfly wings hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 4 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Semicolon with butterfly wings: preview of the stitched design

A semicolon stands as the body of a butterfly: its dot is the head and its comma the tail, both navy, with wings opening to either side. The upper wings lie over the lower wings, and all are outlined in navy. Every wing holds purple spots that narrow toward the body, darker in the upper wings than in the lower. Two navy feelers rise from the dot and curve outward, each ending in a gold tip. The wings are outlined in stem stitch, the wing spots, the dot and the comma are satin stitch, the feelers are back stitch and the tips of the feelers are French knots.

Size and details

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 5 inch hoop up.

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)	1.5 × 1.2 in	3.8 × 3 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.3 × 1.7 in	5.8 × 4.3 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3 × 2.3 in	7.6 × 5.8 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.8 × 2.9 in	9.7 × 7.4 cm	1/2 in (13 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.3 × 4.1 in	13.5 × 10.4 cm	11/16 in (17 mm)

In a 6 or 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 1/2 in (13 mm) or more 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 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 BlueOutlines of the lower wings, outlines of the upper wings, dot, comma and feelers
DMC 210 Medium LavenderLower wing spots
DMC 208 Very Dark LavenderUpper wing spots
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawTips of the feelers

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 strandsOutlines of the lower wings, outlines of the upper wings
Satin stitch 2 strandsLower wing spots, upper wing spots, dot, comma
Back stitch 2 strandsFeelers
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsTips of the feelers

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.