re-post :: butterfly brooch tutorial

All the caterpillars inching their way along the leaves in my garden put me in mind of the butterflies into which they will soon transform; and so I thought it might be nice to re-post this tutorial from March 2014.

SUPPLIES

Small scraps of felt in at least three colors

Embroidery floss and a needle

Fabric scissors

Safety pins

To start, I cut the larger circles approx. 33 mm (1 1/4 inches) wide and the smaller circles approx. 27 mm (1 1/8 inches) wide.  The butterfly wings are 40 mm (1 1/2 inches) across.  Depending on your preference, you could cut your pieces slightly larger.

The butterflies are attached to the smaller felt circles by the stitches which form their bodies.  To embroider the bodies, I made one long stitch down the center of each butterfly, and then, on either side of the long stitches, I made stitches which were half the length (see photo above).

The heads are large French knots, and the antennae are stitched using a single strand separated from a piece of 6-strand embroidery floss.

After the heads & bodies were embroidered, I used an applique stitch to sew the smaller circles to the larger circles.

The final step is to carefully sew a safety pin to the back of the brooch; or if you are thinking ahead, you could sew the pin to the larger felt circle before you sew together the larger and smaller circles.

And that's it... you're done!