Bugs and Butterflies to Cross Stitch for Spring

‘Tis the season for bugs in the Northern Hemisphere, and while they can be kind of annoying sometimes, it’s important to remember that they are an important part of our ecosystem and a lot of them are both weird and beautiful. To celebrate bugs and butterflies, let’s do some cross stitching!

First let’s check out this cute set of ladybugs from Mariana Gonclaves ART. I’m not sure all of these are found in nature, but they’re still pretty fun. The design is 53 by 49 stitches, which comes out to 3.8 by 3.5 inches, or 9.6 by 8.9 cm on 14 count fabric.

The project that got me thinking about bugs was this Wings of Spring pattern from Velvet Pony Design. I love the jewel tones even though they aren’t totally accurate to what the real bugs would look like. It calls for 14 colors and is 115 by 135 stitches. On 14 count fabric that comes out to 8.2 by 9.6 ichnes, or 20.9 by 24.5 cm.

Stitch up insects for every season or just your favorites with this sampler from ONESEO. There are 16 unique insects spread over the seasons, and the full design used 63 colors. The full design is 200 by 200 stitches, or just work a season at a time if you’d rather. If you make the whole thing as one piece it will be 14.3 inches/36.3 cm on 14 count fabric.

Another fun collection you can do all together or separately is this collection of six rainbow insect cross stitch patterns. Each design from Enchanted Mimosa has different bugs included (I love the purple walking stick!) but each design is 120 by 120 stitches and uses three colors.

NARAxStitch Patterns has a colorful collection of specimens to stitch, including beetles and butterflies. The pattern is 193 stitches square, which comes out to 13.79 inches/35 cm using 14 count fabric. It uses 20 colors.

Stitch a bunch of minis as one design or pull our your favorites to use on their own with this design from Stitchin Madness. The design has more than 40 creatures including butterflies, bees, ladybugs, dragonflies and moths. The full piece is 165 by 155 stitches, which comes out to about 11.7 by 11 inches (about 30 by 28 cm) on 14 count fabric. It calls for 31 colors.

I was recently approached by Alyssa, the cross stitcher behind the Etsy shop Stitchonomy, to take a look at her cross stitch pattern subscription club, known as The Pattern Club.

I took a look around and there’s a lot of cute stuff and fun options you’ll want to check out, especially if you love themed patterns that are small, easy to stitch and fun to combine.

The Pattern Club combines cross stitching with a social network. When you open the site you’ll see a news feed and have the ability to share updates much like you would on Facebook. You can see who is online, have buddies and post your own updates and photos. The community aspect is a little sparse right now but that should only grow.

The stitch along hub is the place to find the most recent patterns and information on the current stitchalong. As of this writing the Book Lover’s stitchalong was happening, with little designs like Peter Rabbit, a skull for Hamlet and keys for Jane Eyre as well as authors including Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen.

Other pattern collections include European designs, Halloween, ocean life, an allotment garden and more. Alyssa tells me there’s a new theme every month that either she picks or members in the community suggest. You can stitch just the patterns you want or put them together to make a larger collage.

The Stitchanomini vault gives you access to all of the previous patterns, and new patterns are released daily through the stitchalong. You can download individual patterns (most of them are 19 by 19 stitches) as PDFs or Pattern Keeper files. The PDFs include a color and black and white chart as well as a floss list.

Another cool thing you can do is build your own pattern collages from all of the squares that have been released. The collage configurator allows you to add patterns of your choosing to a grid ranging from 2×2 patterns up to 4×4. You can scroll through all the current patterns or search by theme and size to make a project that suits your needs. (Above is an example I made kind of at random but you get the idea.)

If you want to check it out, you can grab a three-day free trial and see all the pattern options. Membership is $7.99 a month, or if you pay for a year at a time you’ll get two months free. In addition to the patterns in the club, members receive discounts on patterns and supplies purchased through the shop within the club. Annual members get access to three paid/retired stitchalongs and lifetime members receive all retired patterns.

If you check it out I’d love to hear what you think!

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