Butterfly appliqué patterns for every type of appliqué project are available online for easy downloading. Using these ideas and resources, you're sure to find the pattern that is perfect for your project in no time. You can easily adapt a quilting appliqué pattern into an appliqué for clothing or vice versa. You can also convert a simple clipart image to an appliqué pattern, so don't limit yourself by searching only for "quilt appliqué patterns" or "clothing appliqué patterns."
Your butterfly appliqué will really stand out if you used batik or colorful tie-dyed fabrics or add sequins and other sparkling embellishments to your project. Before choosing your appliquéd butterfly embellishments, consider whether your project needs to be wash-and-wear durable or will be relatively protected as a wall hanging.
Free Butterfly Appliqué Patterns
The availability of free appliqué pattern collections is continually growing, making it fairly certain that you can find one to suit your taste or adapt to your needs. The easiest way to find free patterns online is to use Google's or Bing's image search feature. Simply type a word or phrase that describes the butterfly appliqué style or color that you are looking for, along with the phrase, "free butterfly appliqué patterns," and browse the image results until you find what you're looking for.
These patterns may be perfect for your needs:
- Stylized butterfly appliqué pattern for quilts
- Simple butterfly pattern
- Caterpillar to butterfly crochet pattern
- Embroidery and fabric butterfly pattern for appliqué
You can also make your own appliqué pattern by tracing a simple butterfly photo or clipart image or scanning a child's coloring book butterfly image. Add simple embroidery stitches for antennae and use fabric paint for other details if you want to avoid complicated layering.
Fabric Appliqué Patterns
You can use fabric appliqués for quilts, crafts, and clothing embellishments. Cover a stain on your daughter's t-shirt with a cute butterfly appliqué to give the garment new life, while saving money at the same time.
Consider using fabric with a large butterfly print to make a skirt, then cut one (or several) of the butterflies out of the printed fabric and use them as appliqués on a matching t-shirt. Any little girl would cherish a coordinating butterfly outfit, and you can add leftover appliqués from the fabric to her backpack, jacket, or headband for an over-the-top girly style.
Try these patterns to create a cute ensemble:
- Cute butterfly pattern for t-shirt or other appliquéd fabric project
- Butterfly machine embroidery set
- Art quilt (wall hanging) butterfly pattern for fusible or hand appliqué
Crochet Appliqué Patterns
The Internet is also a great resource for crochet appliqué:
- Crochet butterfly appliqué pattern
- Pretty pattern for crocheted slippers with a crocheted butterfly appliqué
Vintage Appliqué Patterns
Keep your eyes open at garage and estate sales for old needlework magazines containing vintage appliqué patterns, or rummage through your grandmother's attic. Search online for vintage patterns. If you base your appliqué on a pattern or image that was published before 1923, you can probably sell your butterfly appliqué items commercially, as these older images are usually in the public domain.
The easiest way to find free, vintage butterfly transfers and patterns for appliqués is to use Google Books advanced search feature to find complete books of images and patterns published before 1923. You may download most of the books you find this way in PDF format to print the patterns on your home printer for easy tracing. You will also find several websites and blogs online that have already done the searching for you by typing "vintage appliqué patterns" into a search engine.
Be creative, and you will almost certainly be able to find or make the butterfly appliqué that suits your project perfectly.
