Welcome back to another edition of my ramblings…how ya doing?! My intention really was to post this last week but I had Covid and I (not to sound dramatic) thought I was dying, literally I couldn’t get out of bed. Crazy really I managed not to catch Covid during the actual pandemic and then catch it randomly from a lady at church.

I thought I’d share a new Fleeting thought with you this week. A little different to normal this one is more of an insight into my love of embroidery.

If you’ve been following my blog for a while then you might have seen one or two of my embroidered butterfly posts. A lot of people ask me about my butterfly pins as I wear them (normally in my hair) and are often quite shocked when I tell them they are made by hand.

It kinda pushed me to the question. 

Why do I embroider things in my spare time?

To start with, there are so many reasons why I enjoy needlework and create my butterflies. Firstly the devil makes work for idle hands and I personally find it really hard to just sit and watch tv or play video games, if I don’t have my needlework I’m known to devour books! 

Its very centring, I suffer quite badly from anxiety and find embroidery to be superbly meditative. I can just feel the tension slipping out of me, with such a hobby there is literally nothing else to worry about but making it look pretty and enjoying myself. Its all about just concentrating on the fabric and thread, there’s no rushing involved and no pressure from the outside world.

Generally I’m never actually sewing in silence, someone else might have the tv on or I might be listening to folk music or classical, having an in-depth conversation or I can just be in the garden listening to the birds singing.

I also find it quite a comforting thing to do, needlework has always been something I’ve done, when I was nine or ten my mum would buy me kid friendly cross-stitch kits that came with big plastic needles, I enjoyed it so much it wasn’t long before I could create my own patterns, eventually moving onto stumpwork. I think its fascinating that this is something people did thousands of years ago (maybe not butterflies) and were creating something from their own hand…in a romantic way it sort of connects me to them.

Its also a hobby that builds over time, the more butterflies I create the better they become, some of the originals were really naff and made in a completely different way to the newer ones – it means I’ve gained enough skill to make something a little bit magical with basically just a needle and thread.

Which brings me to another question. 

Why butterflies?

Most people who know me appreciate just how butterfly mad I am and I wanted to find a way to fill my home with them but dislike the idea of buying vintage taxidermy ones. 

I actually started just silk shading butterflies flat onto calico for decoration, so I decided to use and adapt traditional needlework methods to create my own 3D stumpwork pins (it might not even be the correct method but it works for me). Thus beginning my embroidered butterfly challenge, I think in total I’m going to be making about 130-ish different ones to include the differences between male and female and whatnot.

Creating a butterfly always starts by drawing out an illustration, I then transfer the design onto calico and ‘colour it’ with the closest matching threads I have. There’s actually a very thin wire concealed in the stitches around the edge of each wing which gives them form – this particular stitch stops them fraying when they are cut out. The wings are backed with vintage lace to hide the stitches on the underside, each wing is then sewn onto a body complete with antennae, which is backed with eco-friendly felt and finished with a stainless steel pin fastening.

They are all twice life-size and I try to keep them as near the real thing as possible mainly to keep them in scale with each other and add variety, I suppose I feel that its a way I can keep a record with more than just photographs.

I reckon it will take me 2-3 years to complete!

Its funny I find a lot of people who ask if I sell them then decide they wouldn’t pay more than say £20 for one and when I say they take on average a week to make the reply is always ‘can’t you do it on a machine to make it quicker and cheaper’ which kinda misses the point of making them!

Leading me neatly to question #3. 

What am I going to do with them when I’m finished?

Firstly I don’t think I’ll ever be finished I’ll just start adding butterflies from other parts of the world.

My house will be like a butterfly museum when I’m done. Obviously I’ll still wear them in my hair when I go out but it should look amazing.

So that’s just about it for this week…I really hope you enjoyed learning a little more about me! Do you have any special hobbies? 

As always thank you so much for reading my friends, take care and have a lovely week!