Hello friends! 

**This post was edited on 17/5/24 as I’ve remade the butterfly and updated the pictures**

I’ve got a new butterfly embroidery to share this week. I’m really happy with the Small tortoiseshell photograph (that I posted last week!) I particularly love this type of butterfly, they always seem so happy – don’t get me wrong all butterflies seem happy, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who didn’t like/was scared of them (not that there’s anything wrong in that of course).

So now I’ve created a few practice versions of these I have decided to give myself a bit of a challenge…I’m gonna have a go at creating all 61 types of British butterflies…in scale with each other!

That’s right in scale!!

Yep I’ve gone and got cabin fever cos its been raining too long! I mean honestly it’s been persisting pretty much everyday since the middle of February. 

Obviously not actual life-size scale – they’ll still be larger than normal, ones like the Chequered skipper or the Small blue are tiny and would be so fiddly to do! I start by sketching the basic butterfly shapes out on paper, I’ve bought a life-size chart of UK butterflies which gives me a pretty good guide and I’ve gone and bought a book the Pocket Guide to the Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland by Richard Lewington which is super helpful. Once I’m happy I then transfer my sketch onto calico and colour them in with the closest matching threads I have and when finished I attach the wings to the body and create a backing canvas with the butterflies name in an embroidery hoop with plain calico.

The body of the butterfly has a crocodile clip sewn on so that I can attach the butterflies to plants around the house or even wear them in my hair!

Each one takes roughly a week to do so I’m expecting this to be a long haul hobby!

I recently remade this butterfly, as the wire edging technique looks so much nicer!

Now, this little fella has a real life wingspan of 5-5.5cm so I’ve doubled that to more or less more or less 11cm and I’ve tried to make the body seem as fluffy as the photograph. Ain’t he cute? 

Well that’s it for this week…what do you think? I’d love some feedback on this piece and I’m hoping that you’ll stay with me on my butterfly creating adventure. Thank you so much for reading this post, and I wish you a prosperous week ahead!

© ArtyMissK 2023