How to Make a Butterfly with Fabric - DIY Fabric Butterflies

Hi everyone Angela here. Today I'm going to show  you how to make butterflies out of scrap fabric.  

I"ll show you how to make a simple and plain  one like these with two different fabrics  

and also a fancier one with lace and a center  embellishment. You can use plain or printed  

fabric. Scraps from your denim jeans , cotton,  silks, polyesters, or rayons. Decorate them with  

jewelry charms such as these Steam Punk Keys. And of course sequins, beads, and pearls. You  

can use these butterflies to decorate just about  anything or easily turn them into hair accessories. 

Links for all the tools I use are in the  description below. I"m using my new self-healing  

small rotating cutting mat for this project. It  rotates freely with this flat smooth spindle  

and it has a non-slip base on the  bottom to prevent it from moving.

I'm also using a 5" square  template with non-slip grips on the back  

and also a rotary blade to cut out all  the pieces. Cut two rectangles measuring  

5" x 3.5" or 13cm x 9cm

You can make these any size you like. Just make  sure your width measures about 70% of  

your length. Place the fabric right sides  together with the shorter ends facing you  

and then on the long edge, mark an opening about  two" or three fingers wide using ¼"

seam allowance. Start by backtacking at that  first bottom mark. Stitch until you're ¼"

from that first edge. With needle down, lift your  foot and pivot and continue stitching all around.

When you get around to the second mark, backtack and trim your threads. Next we need to  

trim all of the corners. And to do this, I'm going  to use my 6" KAI embroidery scissors. It's a  

really nice size and way to do these small  jobs and the blades are just super sharp . 

Cut diagonally across each corner making  sure not to cut too close to the stitching.

Next, turn right side out by pushing  all of the fabric through the opening.  

Now use something pointy like a  knitting needle to push out the corners.  

For best results, slide the point  along each seam towards the corner.

Over at the ironing board, make sure the edges of  

the opening and the sides are  straight and give it a press.

Next we need to edgestitch all around starting  at the center of that opening. Backtack at the  

start and finish and stitch about 1/8" or 3mm from the edge all around

and then trim off all the threads.

Next pull out about 50" or 1.2 meters  of thread. Fold in half and then push that  

fold through the eye of the needle. Pull the  strands until they're even. Cut your thread  

and then tie a knot. You should have  about a 12" strand to work with. 

In a vertical position, flip your  fabric over to the wrong side , 

fold up to match the short edges along the  top and then finger press the bottom fold . 

Fold over the right edges to match the  left and finger press the center fold.

Hold on to the top left corner, lift the top  layer until you have a triangle at the bottom . 

The top portion of the fabric  should be nice and even.

Carefully hold on to everything  and flip the fabric over . 

While holding onto that corner on the bottom , open up the fabric again until you create another  

triangle. Again, that top portion should be nice and  even. There'll be a small v-shaped opening at the  

top there. Adjust your fabric a bit if you need to.  You want everything to look nice and symmetrical.  

Hold everything in place with your left hand  and then use your right index finger and  

push that center fabric down a bit and fold over  to the front. Now hold on to all that with your  

left hand as well, and then just take note that  this center point here is a little bit higher  

than this point and about ½" apart and  this corner at the side sticks out slightly more  

than the bottom edge. Continue holding it securely  and turn it around. Grab your needle and thread  

and from that center corner there, come in about  ½" or 12 mm from the edge towards  

the center of the fabric. Push your needle  through four of the layers to the other side.

Pull your needle and thread all the way through  and then you're going to put your needle  

right beside the thread that you  pulled out through all the layers  

making sure that it comes out at the back  right beside the knot and pull through again . 

Place your needle right beside the knot  again, push through, check that the needle  

is coming out right beside that little bit of  stitching and pull through again nice and tight . 

Once more, place your needle beside  the stitching, push through to the 

other side making sure that it's going  in beside the knot and pull through again.

Make a knot by placing your needle beside  the stitches wrap your thread around three  

or four times and then pull through. Stitch  underneath those original stitches a couple  

more times before trimming off your thread by  sewing it like this. It's hardly even noticeable .

It holds everything together without  having to do a lot of stitching in the back.

Now press and fold down the other side.  

The front should look nice and round and even  and there should be a little bit of space  

in the center. The points at the bottom should  be evenly spread apart and that corner at the  

side should stick out just a little bit more than  the edge underneath. Again from that point come in  

about 1/2" or so and then stitch through  everything just like we did on the other side.

Now you can leave the shape as is, or you  can flip that center point to the back .

Match the point to that top  edge and stitch in place.  

Start by stitching through that back corner, wrap  your thread around to the front, stitch through  

that front top edge going through all the layers  into that back corner again do another stitch  

by wrapping around again stitch  through and finish off by tying a knot

These end up measuring about 3.5" wide by 2.5" tall.

To make the lace butterfly, I'm cutting out  the same size pieces in cotton and in satin.  

I have some lace here that's just less than 2" or 4.5cm wide that  

I'll add to the satin piece. Center it onto  the right side of the satin and pin in place.

Carefully stitch down along  the edge of the lace all around.

Then put it together with the  lining right sides together.  

And then continue sewing exactly the same  way we did with the first one . If you're  

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to make this a little fancier, I'm just going to attach this  

Steampunk Key by sewing it  to the middle of the body.

A good place to sew this  would be around this groove.  

Stitch through all the layers. Go around a few  times and then knot your thread in the back.

And then do the same thing by  sewing around that bottom groove.

Turn your butterfly into a  hair accessory by adding a  

hair elastic and then stitching the back corner up.

With the point already sewn to the back you can  also slide a hair pin through the center opening

and lastly you can just sew it to a matching  narrow scrunchie. You can just sew it through  

all the layers at the same spot where the other  stitching is. I really hope you give these a try