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.

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Designer Spotlight: Mariana Gonclaves ART

Unique Stitch Crafts is a Turkish designer that has a couple of main interests in their cross stitch designs: travel and Christmas stockings.

By far the biggest category in their storefront is Christmas stockings, with more than 100 options to choose from. There are fully stitched fronts with designs classic and whimsical (like an alicorn and a pastel rainbow, or a bunny in Harlequin costume playing violin to a mushroom) and designs that just go across the cuff of the stocking. There are ornaments with a Nutcracker or Frozen theme, New York City stockings and stockings for your dinosaur.

As an example, here’s a stocking covered with mini holiday designs, which you could also use as ornaments if you wanted. The full design is 165 by 255 stitches, which comes out to 10.3 by 16 inches, or 26 by 40.6 cm on 16 count fabric. The pattern just makes the front of the stocking so you need to grab some fabric for the back of the stocking and sew it together yourself.

There’s also a large collection of travel cross stitch patterns, including national parks designs both large and mini, and travel poster style designs for many US states and cities. (There’s not an Arkansas, which is my standard test since I live there, but there is a pattern of the Mississippi River bridge in Memphis, which is technically half in Arkansas.)

If you’re more of a world traveler you’ll find more of the travel poster style designs for cities and countries, including Thailand and China, Berlin, Sydney and Marrakech.

In addition to all of that, you’ll find patterns called retro, which includes a wide range of designs, but many seem to be food and coffee related; folk art designs (lots of flowers and birds); and famous paintings translated to cross stitch. Smaller categories include Christmas, Halloween, animals, kids and castles.

Check out all the fun designs at Unique Stitch Crafts on Etsy.

[Photo: Unique Stitch Crafts]

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