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Want to learn how to make a quilt with an easy online workshop – totally free?

Sign up for Let’s Make a Quilt here. You’ll learn how to get started, the tools and supplies you’ll need, and how to make a quilt from start to finish using Quilt As You Go and applique with fusible adhesive.

It’s the easiest, most fun way to make an applique quilt. You can do it!

Applique a pretty butterfly with this free pattern!

When I was designing the Wild Flowers quilt pattern, I thought about adding a few bugs to the garden.

Nothing creepy. A ladybug, a bee and a butterfly. Maybe a grasshopper and a worm.

In the end I decided to just make it a wild riot of colorful flowers – bug free.

But I kept thinking about the bugs. The zinnias in my garden and the butterfly bushes in my yard are in full bloom right now and they are covered with swarms of beautiful butterflies.

I realized that I could release a free butterfly pattern, scaled to match the blocks in the Wild Flowers quilt. That way you can substitute one (or more) butterfly blocks for any of the square blocks in the quilt.

Fun!

Of course, you don’t have to make a quilt. You could use this solo block pattern in a pillow, a tote bag, a tablet cover, a wall hanging or more. You could applique it on a finished T-shirt or on a tea towel.

You could also go totally quilt crazy and make a bunch of butterfly blocks in different colors and join them into one joyous, colorful quilt!

Have fun with it!

Want to see a mock up of the butterfly applique pattern mixed in with the flowers from the Wild Flowers pattern?

See it? I tweaked the color a bit in photo editing to make it stand out more, but you’d let it blend in real life. 🙂

This is easy peasy applique. All of the instructions use my favorite applique with fusible adhesive technique (with links to video tutorials, of course) but you could also use needle turn or freezer paper applique.

Materials Needed

For each block you’ll need an 11 inch square of fabric for the background, scraps of fabric for the butterfly and one sheet of fusible adhesive. (I use this printable product – no tracing!)

If you’re doing Quilt As You Go you’ll also need an 11 inch square of cotton batting.

Download the free butterfly applique pattern templates here.

Step 1

Trace the pattern onto the paper side of the fusible adhesive.

I use this printable fusible adhesive so I just printed out the page. No tracing!

The image has already been reversed, so just trace or print.

Step 2

Rough cut around each shape.

Leave a little bit extra all the way around ­- a little extra extra (at least 1/4 inch) where there’s a dotted line ­- the inside edges of the wings where they’ll tuck under the body.

Step 3

Fuse each pattern piece to the wrong side of the fabric.

Step 4

Cut around each piece.

Cut directly on the solid lines. Leave a little seam allowance on the dotted lines – that’s where­ the inside edges of the wings will tuck under the main body piece.

Step 5

If you’re doing Quilt As You Go then you can quilt your block before adding the applique. So easy!

Cut your background block and your batting 11 inches square. Layer them together and quilt any pattern you like!

This link goes to a post showing all my favorite straight line quilting patterns, and this link goes to my favorite wavy line patterns.

If you’ll do the quilting later, simply skip this step. (That’s what I did for my sample block – so you won’t see a quilted background in the following photos.)

Step 6

Peel off the paper backing and arrange the butterfly pieces on your background block. Tuck the edges of the wings behind the body, and the top wings behind the bottom wings.

Remember -­ all the dotted lines indicate where pieces tuck behind other pieces.

Fuse the pieces in place, following the package instructions for whatever brand of fusible adhesive you’re using.

Step 7

Stitch around all the pieces. I just did simple straight line stitching in black thread.

I love the cartoony effect.

This post has more information about outlining stitching your applique.

Done!

One free butterfly applique pattern becomes as lovely fabric butterfly block!

If you’re making one-­block project, go ahead and finish it up!

If you’re making a bunch of butterfly blocks to join into a quilt -­ have fun!

Happy quilting!

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