A Quick Cross Stitch Butterfly

Today I finally finished a project that I have been working on for just about 10 days. It all started at the Dollar Tree when I bought this frame. It’s cute enough by itself, but I thought why not put a cross stitch piece inside of it. I went searching on Etsy for the pattern that seemed best to fit it. I chose an inexpensive one and you can find it HERE. However, I only loosely followed it. I did the main flower and then spun the other flowers around. Then I free stitched the leaves to make them fill in the spaces that I needed them to. Lastly, I added some background stitches to give it a little more dimension.

I really felt in a way like I was stamping a card when I made this. Of course it took a lot longer, but the creative process felt very much the same.

If anyone is interested, here is the process that I used:

After finding the frame and choosing the Aida cloth, I traced the outside of the frame on the fabric so that I could see where to stitch. I knew I had about 3/4 of an inch leeway around the edges.

Then, after finding the pattern on Etsy, I downloaded it and then uploaded it to Canva, roughly guessing the size that it was. I then took a picture of the butterfly, uploaded that to Canva, and then did a background remover and laid the two photos over top of one another. I was pretty close, although not perfect with my sizing.

When I was finished the stitching, I trimmed the fabric just inside the tracing line that I did. I then use the button hole maker stitch on my sewing machine to secure the edges.

Lastly, I placed the finished piece on the back of the butterfly. Using a staple gun, I stapled the fabric directly into the frame. It was really easy to do this. I wasn’t sure about it until I tried. Sometimes frames like this are made with resin and it’s very difficult to staple. But this seems to be a wood composite and it worked well.

It was a fun piece to stitch, and even though it was a bit of a challenge getting the flowers just right, I think it looks really good. It’s a great little addition to my wall.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful day!