Half Butterfly Half Floral Embroidery Design, Instant Download

The whole idea here is the split. Left half is a swallowtail butterfly, wings filled solid with dense satin stitching, those chunky oval spots along the bottom wing edge, the body and antenna stitched in tight satin columns. Right half is an open lily and hibiscus cascade, big petals outlined but not filled, stamens as fine lines, leaves trailing down toward the bottom. Both sides share the same vertical centre spine. Its kinda like looking at an x-ray and a photograph at the same time.

One colour throughout, black thread only. But the contrast between the dense filled wings on the left and the airy linework on the right means the design's got more visual weight than a single-colour piece normally does. The density gap between the two sides is intentional and I spent a while digitising the underlay so the butterfly fill doesnt pucker the fabric when it transitions into the open floral section. Stitch count goes from 24,832 at 5 inches up to 40,649 at the 8-inch, so its genuinely a kinda heavy run at the top size and ya machine needs to be up to it.

I made this for a customer who wanted tattoo-flash energy but not actually a skull or snake. She wanted florals but she also wanted structure and weight. The split concept clicked for her straight away. Since then Ive had orders from bridal embroiderers who put it on white linen sashes, alt-fashion tee makers, and botanical art people who frame the hooped piece as wall art. One person last november sent me photos of it stitched in white thread on black denim and honestly it looked like a proper fine-art print.

Use a cutaway stabiliser on everything, the dense left half especially needs it. Hoop the fabric drum-tight before you start, the switch between heavy fill and open linework creates tension variance in the cloth and a loose hoop'll shift on ya. Best results on white cotton, natural linen, or black denim. Avoid stretchy jersey at the 8-inch size, 40k stitches on a stretchy base is asking for puckering. The 5-inch sits fine on ponte or medium-weight jersey and theres no puckering risk there.