Here is a tutorial for making my butterfly magnets. I have them on my online site and I was asked if I would show how I make them. You can use them for magnets or you can use them to applique to a background square for a quilt block.

I draw my own designs and I want to show you how to draw a butterfly wing. It is really easy.

Just draw a half circle. Then draw a squiggly line from one corner to the other. Don't make the squiggly line too full of hills or it will be too hard to sew later on. A nice gentle line with a couple or three hills will work well.

Then cut out the wing and lay it on cardboard. Trace around it and then cut out the cardboard wing for a template.

Now you need to have some swatches of fabric. I chose some lights to use for a butterfly.

Now we are going to sew them in a confusion pattern(crazy or crumb).

Yiou can do this any size you want to. If you want to do some small ones make sure you keep your swatches close together so they will all fit under your template.

When you have your fabric all sewn place your template on the fabric and move it around until you have a look you like. Then trace around the template.

Repeat this again for the second wing. What I forgot to do was to turn the template over so the second wing would be a mirror image of the first. If you give your wing a tail on one end you won't be able to put them together if you cut them out the same side. I realized what I had done and I sewed across the long tail I was going to use on one end so both ends on the one wing were reasonably the same.

Now if you are going to use these as applique you are done.

To continue on with the magnets

lay your wings face down on a backing and cut out around them. You can trim them now or wait til after they are sewn.

To sew this wing on you need to fold back the backing fabric and baste along the edge to set the seams so they won't come undone when you are turning the wing right side out.

Then let the backing fabric go back into place and start at the end of the basting that you just did. Make sure you backstitch.
then continue sewing around the wing following the edge. If you like you can clip the fabric in the hollows but I didn't. It can make it easier to turn the hills inside out. Make sure you remember to backstitch when you end. Leave an opening to turn the wing right side out.

Now everyone thinks it is hard to turn a small item inside out. but it isn't if you know the technique.

Here I stick my finger into one side of the wing. Then I put the tip of my scissors against the end of my finger. If you don't want to use scissors you can use any turning tool. I have seen people use a straw if you don't have a tool. Then I slowly pull the edge of the wing down over the tip of the scissors. Til you have it all the way turned.

Now you are going to have to turn both sides of the opening. But once you have the one side turned you can just stick a finger into the other side and push it up inside.

Then take your scissors tip or a turning tool and smooth the edges out as much as possible so it goes back into the wing shape. This is where the clipping in the hollows will help. If you get some pulling inbetween the hills you can ease that by turning it wrong side out again and clipping if you didn't already do that. I didn't clip this time and it was ok. So it is up to you.

Ok you should have two wings now.

Lay them face to face. I should have put the backing fabric on the inside but I did it backwards. Which is ok if that is how you want it to look. You will see one later on that I did the confusion on both sides so it didn't really matter which side I put on the inside.

Sorry a few of my pictures are not as clear as I would have liked but you get the idea.

So to create the body and to sew the two wings together I use a black thread and whip stitch the openings together. W

Ok I want the body of the butterfly to look like a bug body so I keep whipstitching til the opening area gets completely covered. You don't want any fabric showing through the black stitches.

Now to add antennae -cut a length of wire that is as long or as short as you want. I like to curl mine so if you want them to curl cut the length at twice of the lenght you want them to end up as.

I cut mine 12" and folded the wire in half.Then I twisted the end a few times to create a circle of wire at the end.
Hold the folded wire up to the black thread as shown in the picture and take a stitch or two through the circle so it will not pull out when it is sewn in.

Then continue to whipstitch over the wire onto the body part until you can't see the wire anymore.

You can find gold craft wire at any craft shop. It is more easily manipulated than a regular wire but you can use any wire you want. The thicker the wire tho the less you will be able to curl it.

After you have the body done then I curl the antennae. I use a pencil or pen and wrap the wire around the pen.

I like to put some feet on them so I just tack some thread on where I want the feet and then I trim them.

So here we have a newly hatched Butterfly!!

If I had put the yellow fabric to the inside then the confusion would be showing more when the butterfly was open. It is entirely up to you.

One note - I have tried various types of bodies such as a cone shaped piece of fabric rolled into a long cone and it is harder to do. So this whipstitch is the easiest way I have found to do the body.

Attach a piece of magnet to the back side of the butterfly for a magnet.

Here are a couple of butterflies I did awhile ago.

I forgot to post a list of materials at the beginning so here it is.

4 or 5 swatches

length of craft wire -length is up to you depending on the size of your butterfly.

Magnet -- You can buy magnet in a roll but I don't like the way it won't lay flat very well. I buy the craft magnets or you can buy a pkg of magnets for the back of business cards. That works well too. I am sure you could find these at any craft shop or online.

I don't use any batting but I suppose if you wanted to you surely could. It would give them a differant 3 d effect. I never thought of it before so it might be something to try.

I like to use spray starch to stiffen things so if you wanted to you could spray the wings with spray sizing or starch and give the wings some stiffness.

Hope you enjoy this tutorial!!

As always if you have any questions just pm or email me at [email protected]

I also have a thread in the PDA section. (Personal Diaries and Announcements)

Ronda,Ronda,Ronda, I sure wish we could have real butterflies, but the snow is keeping them away. I Bookmarked this , you are sooooo clever. I love them.
thanks a bunch.
Karen
:-D

I thought this was a good time to do the tutorial to brighten some spirits!!! I think we all need it right now with all the snow! So this is my way of bringing a little spring into our lives right now!!

Thanks Karen I am glad you like them! I think they are fun to make.

Thanks Rhonda. I see your method of cut down theory working here. You make it look so simple; however, after I try making some I'll let you know how simple they are for me. My hands don't want to work in the cold weather. TTUL

Wow! Thanks, love them!

I LOVE butterflies - thank you for sharing your technique! :) I'm VERY happy now knowing that I can make easy but beautiful butterflies!

These are so cute and you did such a great job with the tutorial. Thanks!

Sheila you can make them larger than I did. It would make it easier on your hands. I will look forward to seeing what you think. Be honest now and not just protect my feelings! I can't improve them if I don't get honest feedback.

Thanks everyone and you're welcome to the tutorial. It is something I have had in the back of my mind for months and just didn't get around to doing.

Hope you all enjoy! But I would really love to see pics if you try making them!!

Love it...bookmarked it...Thanks Rhonda.

I promise I'll be truthful Rhonda. I'll try to get to it tomorrow. I have this ugly red velvet fabric (customer) to make a pillow with an antique embroidery of a Southern Belle on linen, to put a green grosgrain ribbon around that, then affix it to the red pillow. To much Christmas colors for me right after the holidays. It's for her bedroom.

How would you/me/anyone get a copyright on their original patterns? McCall's or Simplicity & other big pattern makers sell patterns in LQSs that include more than one pattern? Have you tried selling on eBay? I sold a few Univ of Alabama & Auburn Scrub Hats there , but had the surgery, so that got canned for now. Getting to the Post Office was too much for me back then.

Hi Ronda I dont know how to book mark or I would, those are really neat, I offten look at your books but cant afford them. thank you for doing this.

just go back up to the top of the page, click on "bookmark" near Rhonda's name and when the screen changes, write in the box, click on "save". then to check to see if you did this right, go to the top of the page, click on "my bookmarks" and see if it is there. Hope this helps! make sure that you are bookmarking page 1, where the tutorial is... :-)

This is cute Rhonda, what a great idea; I'd use this for appliqué and do other shapes too! Thank you! :-D

I thought it would be nice to use for applique too. Thank you Rhonda!

Thank you Rhonda, those are very cute butterflies :D:D:D

Thanks everyone I have been making these for several years now. I have a few on my online site.

You can do hearts like this also and make magnets out of them or applique. Sunbonnet Sue skirts could be cut out of the confusion(crumb) also. I haven't actually done that but it is a thought.

I had some I had done that I used very light airy fabrics and I loved the look. They looked like they would fly away.

Thank you Im to stupid to figure it out I just printed it at 27 pages when you print it, but next time Im goning to keep your instruction and do step by step

The last pics you posted are beautiful! Lily would love these - perhaps I can make some with her. :-D

I really like them made with the light fabrics. It gives then that gossamer feel.

Rhonda, how do you affix your magnets to the fabric so they'll stay on the frig? I have 1/2 inch strips with a sticky side. Should I also use fabric glue to make sure it stays put?

Is the magnetic strip staight or does it want to curl? If it came off of a roll they sometimes won't stay on well. I haven't done anything but stick them on, But a bit of fabric glue won't come amiss.

I prefer using a flat magnet piece. I like to get the magnets for business cards, It is flat and stays on well. Of course I use cotton. If you are using something other than cotton I don't know how it will work.

Does this help Sheila?

Another thing I like to cut the magnet in a long strip rather than using a small square or circle shape.

Thanks Rhonda. I haven't sewed the middle (w/black thread) & put a magnets on yet. It is flat & comes in strips, says for office use & crafts. If it won't keep the butterflies up, I'll use a little fabric glue, let it dry, then try again. I also have E-6000 for jewelry, but not sure if that would harm the cotton.

I'm in the trial & error stage here. I'd hate to sell them & get neg feedback. I'll let you know later. TTUL.........

Sheila there is an alternative way to make them. You can cut out your butterly so it is all one piece for the top and when you cut the underside fabric you can sew them together wrong side out. All you need to do is slit the fabric where the body goes and then you can turn it right side out and add the magnet over the slit. Look at the yellow one I did. It was done this way. I did take some thread and tie the middle so it divided the wings better. If this is not enough explanation I can do a demonstration if you need.

OK, so are the butterfly wings supposed to lie flat (opened) or just one wing on the frig & other out a bit? Does that make sense? I have to lie down for a bit (leg & back pain), so will check back with you later. I think these are so cute.

They can do either one one Sheila. But if you want them to be flat it is better to use the one that is all one piece instead of two wings. The black thread will make it want to fold in half and stay part way open. I like them so they fold in half and stick out from the fridge because they look more real that way. But the other is just another way to do them.

Think I got it. I also want to make Ken & Kim a wall hanging w/three BFs placed randomly w/one lg open, two smaller in flight on a small doll quilt with a scene of running stream & mountains in background, as well as one for the frig. Those will be for 2010 Christmas present. Their kitchen is a pale apple green so almost any color will look good, plus their frig is polished metal. BFs would also look good on kitchen towels if I get that energetic.

Thanks for this idea. I'm going to make up pics & put them in a notebook of items I've made, hopefully for a Flea Market this Spring/Summer. I see my To-Do-List starting to get longer.