Flower Butterfly with Green Leaves Embroidery Design, Instant Download

Theres no wing membrane on this butterfly, the whole shape is assembled from flowers and leaves. Two large red roses anchor the centre of each wing pair, one upper and one lower, worked in full satin petal layers with a spiral centre detail that gives them genuine depth. Around the roses, smaller orange-yellow daisy-type blooms fill the gaps, each with a yellow centre circle. Then green leaf sprigs run out to the wing edges, pointed and fern-like, so the tips of the wings read as plant growth rather than anything insect-shaped. A slim black body runs down the middle with two thin antennae curving up at the top, and thats the only part that tells you this is a butterfly at all.

Its a folk art construct, both wings are a mirror of each other, the kind of symmetry you see in mexican paper cut art or scandinavian weaving patterns. Bright red is the dominant note, the orange fills are secondary, the green holds the outer shape together. Four colours, clean separation, no complicated thread changes mid-section. Density is 894 per square inch, maximum stitch count on the large 5.65 by 7.51 inch version is 37,943, which stitches out fast for something this visually complex.

Nine sizes starting from 2.64 by 3.51 inches. Use a medium cut-away stabiliser and hoop taut on the larger sizes so the rose centres dont pucker. Stitch slowly through the dense petal sections. The smaller sizes work on sleeve patches and tote pockets, the medium range suits cushion panels and shirt backs, and the large size fills a cushion front or jacket back with real presence. White, cream, navy or black backgrounds all work, the red and green pop on both light and dark grounds.

Someone wrote to me last spring after stitching the medium size on a white apron for her mums birthday and said her mum cried a bit when she opened it. I get messages like that about this design more than most. Its one of those pieces that looks like proper folk-art craft, not like something off a machine. Reach out if thread matching throws up any questions.