Pattern Inspirations
On my honeymoon, we visited a small shop that sold handmade items from around the world. We purchased a shawl for me. As I used it over the years and as I started designing cross-stitch patterns, I felt inspired to create a pattern using the colors of the shawl and inspired by some of the designs on the shawl.
In time, I decided to use the inspiration from the shawl for the border. I then went looking for a quote to put inside the border. I fell in love with this quote from Maya Angelou: "We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."
When I first started designing the pattern, I planned to stitch it on navy fabric with floss that was similar to the colors on the shawl. However, I later decided that I would enjoy stitching the project more on a lighter fabric, so I switched the colors up so that it was on a light blue fabric with the border stitched in a dark blue floss and the words stitched with purple floss. Unfortunately, I didn't realize the second skein of purple was a different dye lot until after I'd used up all of the first skein. I decided to keep going with the second skein, deciding it gave character to the piece.
For the fully finishing, I originally ordered an Ackfeld Embroidery hanger. But when I didn't receive that because it was out of stock, I decided to pivot. I'd wanted to try fully finishing a piece using magnetic poster hangers as I'd seen other people do, so I decided this would be a project that would work well with that type of finishing.
The magnetic poster hangers that I purchased were unfinished, so I painted them. I first removed the hooks that held the string. I then painted them with a coat of black (all sides except the sides with the magnets). After that dried, I painted a light coat of brown on top (Melted Chocolate matte acrylic craft paint from Apple Barrel). Once it was all dry, I screwed the hooks back in.
I ironed the finished cross-stitch piece and then ironed on some light iron-on interfacing. I considered just trimming the fabric, but I was worried about fraying around the edges, so I decided to sew on some backing fabric (as if I were doing a pillow finish). I turned it right side out and ironed it. I didn't bother sewing up the hole I left in the bottom for turning it right side out.
Unfortunately, when I tried using the magnetic poster hanger, the seams made it so that the magnets couldn't hold tight. My husband helped me figure out that it could hold the weight if some of the fabric was above and below the hangers. I decided to use this approach.
As I was preparing to release this pattern, I decided that I wanted to get an idea of what it would have looked like if I'd stitched it on navy fabric. So I pulled out the fabric and floss that I was originally considering for the project (Wichelt Navy aida, and Classic Colorworks 018 Hydrangea and 045 Vintage Violet). I created a pattern for the butterfly (the inverse of the butterfly from the corners of the full pattern), and stitched it up.
I fully finished this test piece on a wooden gift tag that I painted silver. I ironed, cut out the cross-stitch, and frayed the edges before using double-sided tape to attach the stitched piece to the tag.
I used ribbon for the hanger.
You can get this small butterfly pattern for free here: https://kebstudiocreations.gumroad.com/l/sjiutd
You can purchase "Butterfly Beauty" here:
I had originally hoped to release "Butterfly Beauty" before February so that it would be available in time for Black History Month. Various factors (such as getting sick and dealing with car issues) prevented that from happening. So, I decided to have it be a spring release instead.
