Butterflies Flying from Open Book Embroidery Design, Instant Download

Drew this up after a reader in my craft group asked for something book-themed but not naff. Butterflies flying out of an open book on black cotton or white canvas, that is the whole concept and it just works. Open book at the bottom-left, spine flat, pages fanned. Thirteen black butterfly silhouettes lift off the pages and float in a loose diagonal arc toward the top-right, starting tiny near the book and growing as they go. Real sense of movement for a design that has no actual motion.

The book itself is done in fine outline stitch so it reads as a sketch against the solid-filled butterflies above it. Each butterfly is a proper filled satin silhouette, wings slightly varied so they dont all look like photocopies of each other. Density runs low at 242 per square inch, the biggest size only clocks eleven thousand stitches, which means this is genuinely quick on the machine. No colour changes at all, just one thread load and go.

Its the kind of design that book people clock straight away and everyone else just reads as a nice nature graphic. A customer ordered a batch last autumn for a library book club putting together tote bags for their members, which I thought was a wicked idea. 5 sizes from 3.51 by 2.83 inches up to 7.51 by 6.07.

Pick a pale or neutral background so the black pops. Cream cotton, white canvas, natural linen all work wicked here. Avoid dark fabric, the solid black butterflies need contrast to read properly. Use a medium tearaway stabiliser for woven fabric and keep tension even on the fine book outline so the page lines dont pucker. Try floating the piece on a cutaway base if youre doing stretchy jersey and want the outline to stay crisp.

my professional tool digitised, Tajima DST base, all 8 formats in the download. Email me if the file gives you any trouble and Ill get it sorted.