Life Is Beautiful Butterfly Embroidery Design, Machine Embroidery Pattern, Instant Download

A linen hand towel is where this one earns its keep. "Life" sweeps across the upper left in big looping cursive, the letters thick and full with directional satin shading that makes em look almost carved. Tiny heart dotting the i. "is" sits smaller and lower, and sitting right beside it a full butterfly, wings spread wide, done in dense satin stitch with white oval spots pressed into the upper panels and fine running-stitch antennae trailing above. "Beautiful" fills the bottom in the same heavy calligraphy, wide and confident and matching the weight of "Life" above. Its charcoal on white the whole way through, no colour swaps, one spool of dark thread and it reads across a room.

Use cutaway stabiliser under anything woven. The density on this sits at 416 stitches per centimetre and the underlay is doing serious work keeping the satin letters flat, so a loose hoop is gonna cause problems. Hoop the linen firm, add a water-soluble topping if the weave is open, and the antennae lines come out sharp. The 4 inch fits neatly on a cotton tea towel without crowding the hem. Stitch count climbs to 20,418 on the largest size so set aside some time, but the wing detail is worth it, the spots and vein lines are stitched as separate elements and you can tell up close. Skip tear-away on anything with pile, its cutaway only on fleece or terry.

A mum I know stitched this in charcoal thread onto a cream linen tote for her daughters birthday last month and said it got more compliments than anything shed bought from a shop. Centre it on the tote front using your machines centre-find function. Iron the back on low heat after stitching and trim jump stitches close to the bobbin thread so the reverse sits flat and clean. Pair it with a natural or off-white fabric and the monochrome contrast does all the work for you.

Get in touch if the tie-offs come loose.