Pastel Butterfly with Heart Wings Cross Stitch Pattern

About this butterfly cross stitch pattern

A round lilac butterfly with a happy face, little dark eyes and pink cheeks spreads four mint-green wings, each with a big heart in the middle: pink on the top wings, blue and teal on the bottom ones, with a peach heart tucked in between. Two curly antennae end in small sparkles, and the body ends in a pale yellow tail. A dark purple line outlines everything.

It’s a gentle spring piece that suits a girl’s room, a nursery or a birthday card, and it’s quick enough for a first project. For another small garden bug, the Bumblebee on a Daisy is about the same size; our spring round-up has more designs for the season.

What you need

• Fabric: 14-count Aida in white, cut to at least 12“ x 11“ (3“ around the design for hooping and framing).
• Thread: 21 DMC colors, about 21 skeins in total, stitched with two strands. The main colors are 955 Nile Green – Light (1,136 stitches), 327 Violet – Dark (445) and 3733 Dusty Rose (292).
• Needle: a size 24 tapestry needle.
• Stitches: full cross stitches only, with no backstitch.

Difficulty and stitching time

It’s rated Beginner: the wings are big flat areas, and 955 alone covers 40% of the stitches. At 2,814 stitches it takes roughly 28 to 47 hours at a steady 60 to 100 stitches an hour. The 21 colors are mostly small touches in the body and antennae.

Tips for stitching this pattern

• Outline in 327 first. 327 Violet – Dark (445 stitches) is the outline. It’s purple, not black, which keeps the butterfly soft, so check you have the right thread before you start.
• Stitch the hearts before the mint wings. 3733 Dusty Rose (292 stitches), 827 Blue – Very Light (179) and 598 Turquoise – Light (150) make the hearts. Place them first, then fill the 955 Nile Green – Light (1,136) around them.
• Leave the antenna sparkles for last. The curls and little stars are lines of single stitches. Stitching them after everything else keeps them from getting lost.

Size, fabric and framing

On 14-count Aida the finished design measures 5.1“ x 4.1“ (13.0 x 10.4 cm). On 16-count it comes out at 4.5“ x 3.6“, and on 18-count at 4.0“ x 3.2“. An 8“ x 10“ frame leaves room for a mat.

It’s small enough to stitch on the front of a baby blanket square or a tote bag pocket using waste canvas.

What’s in the free PDF

• A cover page and a one-page overview with a preview of the design
• The chart, split across as many printable pages as you choose, in color or black and white, with a symbol for every DMC color, center lines, a mini-map showing which part of the design each page covers and a color key on every page
• The thread list: DMC number, color name, number of stitches and skeins to buy for each color
• The finished size on 11-, 14-, 16-, 18- and 28-count Aida