What's Under the Needle?

A Second Butterfly Hoop

Posted by on 20 October 2019 | 2 Comments
This content belongs to Arbee Designs.

Recently I showed you how to hoop a butterfly applique to make a decorative hanging frame: Butterfly Hoop with Frill and today I wanted to follow up with another idea which I found to be much easier. 

From the first experience of working with these hoops, I definitely learned a thing or two. For one, allow a bit more seam allowance when testing a theory! For my second hoop, I decided to trim leaving a good inch. But before I did any trimming, I decided that I would quilt down the background around the butterfly. A simple stipple is all that is needed, but you could use anything including straight quilting or echo quilting just to name a few. I echoed the butterfly a couple of times then stippled outside it. This really made the butterfly pop.

quilted butterfly

I placed the hoop over the butterfly so it was central and drew a circle about 1 inch outside it.

butterfly centered within the hoop

Then I trimmed it back to almost the drawn circle, flipped it over and positioned the hoop once again. 

back of quilted butterfly

From here, I could neaten the edges by using bias binding to cover them, but I decided to gather them raw - to reduce bulk. I used a double gathering stitch just in case the first snapped when I pulled it up through all those thicknesses. As I pulled up the gathers, I ensured they were evenly dispersed around the hoop.

raw edges gathered on the back

Once gathered I knotted it off. I love the simplicity of this hoop. It looks like a tile and I can easily imagine three of these hanging in a row either horizontal or vertical.

Blue Butterfly hanging

To finish off the back, I added a small hanging hook and cut a round circle of card which I hot glued to the back to cover the gathers - this will also prevent those gathers from slipping loose.

So here is a list of what you'll need to create this wonderful simple gift:

• Blue Butterfly or Purple Butterfly pattern (click links for more details)
• Small amounts of cotton fabric for applique (of your color choice)
• 8"-10" background fabric, backing fabric, and batting
• Machine embroidery threads to match your applique fabrics
• Quilting thread
• 6" or 8" hoop
• Small hook for hanging

So which do you like best? The purple or the blue butterfly?

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