Monarch butterfly with veined wings hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Monarch butterfly with veined wings: preview of the stitched design

A monarch butterfly is seen from above, with long swept fore wings. In each wing a long cell lies beside the body and veins of orange stem stitch fan from it to a border of arches, so that the wing is divided into long panes; the outlines and the borders are brown stem stitch. Gold French knots stand outside the border, twenty in all, the body (head, thorax and abdomen) is brown satin stitch, and each antenna is a line of stem stitch tipped with a gold French knot.

Size and details

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

3 colors of floss and 3 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.8 × 1.3 in	4.6 × 3.3 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.7 × 1.9 in	6.9 × 4.8 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.6 × 2.6 in	9.1 × 6.6 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.5 × 3.2 in	11.4 × 8.1 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.3 × 4.5 in	16 × 11.4 cm	1/2 in (13 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 1/2 in (13 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 3781 Dark Mocha BrownWing outlines, wing borders, abdomen, head, thorax and antennae
DMC 922 Light CopperVeins
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawKnots outside the wing borders and knots on the antennae

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 strandsWing outlines, wing borders, veins, antennae
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsKnots outside the wing borders, knots on the antennae
Satin stitch 2 strandsAbdomen, head, thorax

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.