I thank Janet Collins for these butterflies…Janet was in a stitching group with me in the late 1980’s which is where I watched her create butterflies by gathering and scrunching small pieces of lace into rough butterfly shapes, then using beads for the bodies and pistol stitch for the antenna.
This Lace butterfly is made by folding the ends of a short piece of lace to the middle and stitching them in place with a gathering stitch…a couple of extra stitches shape the wings…it is when you add beads to form the body that the butterfly emerges and a couple of long pistol stitches (or straight stitches with a knot at the end) complete the butterfly.
Experiment with different types of lace and different ways of folding and gathering the lace…use single long beads or different combinations of smaller beads or embroidery for the body…I like metallic thread for the antenna because it sits nicely but other threads can be used…Add additional decoration to the wings….I look forward to seeing how these little lace butterflies can evolve in your hands.
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