Hey friends! 

A few weeks back I posted a Butterfly tale about raising a bunch of Red Admiral butterflies and I’ve enjoyed their company all summer (in total I will have raised 60 of them this year) so I had to make a needlework version which is #9 on my embroidered butterfly challenge!

A Red ad has a real life wingspan of about 7.2cm, so its definitely one of our biggest butterflies. My needlework version has a wingspan of about 14.5cm to keep him inline with my ‘twice life size’ scale, so it just beats the Peacock I made recently for size. (Weirdly when I think of Red ads they’re always boys, I have absolutely no idea why.)

There basically no difference between the male and female so I just made the one, which actually took a lot longer than I expected and used almost a whole skein of black thread! I tend to follow the illustrations by Prof Richard Lewington, as he’s basically the expert at realistic bug drawings (you should def check out some of his work its beautiful) although I’ve just been given a copy of ‘Butterflies of the world” by — — and wow there are some really beautiful creatures out there.

Lets just say when I’ve conquered the butterflies of the UK I’m fluttering further afield! 

I’m hoping that you enjoyed this post and that you’ll stay with me on my butterfly making journey. Thank you so much for checking this out and I wish you a wondrous week ahead!

Ps. If you want to have a look at my other butterflies they’re HERE!

Psps. CATERPILLAR UPDATE!! The eggs of my original 14 Red ads hatched into 46 caterpillars which almost ready to emerge! Read the Butterfly tale HERE!

© ArtyMissK 2024