Introducing Seasonal Stitches Butterflies

Day 2 of the March 2014 Papertrey Ink Release Party. I'm back today to show you the incredibly functional and variable Seasonal Stitches: Butterflies. Over the next year as we release the Seasonal Stitches Dies (this month's theme is spring), you'll notice that a lot of detail and functionally is included in each set. You can make easy little projects or a bit more involved projects, all depending on what you have time to whip up. My time last night was spent sitting on the couch, watching Call the Midwife, and making these samples. Let me tell ya, not a bad job I have over here. So very relaxing. I'm sure you'll find that working on these little felt projects to be the same.

I made two barrettes last night (using the previously released Clever Barrette Covers), one with a plain, but still beautiful, butterfly and another with a bit more detail. I have been wanting for some time to create a stitching die set that is meant to compliment the Clever Barrette Covers. This is it. The body of the butterfly fits nicely within the top of the barrette, securing them together with stitches, but still allowing you access to stitch up the barrette layers because the wings flap free, unsecured to the barrette.

How adorable are these going to look in a little girl's hair. Just in time for all those bright, warm weather outfits.

Let me show you how I created the two versions.

Here's the simple version and the die that cuts holes into the barrette cover. Notice that it is just the body of the butterfly, allowing wings flap free. This also lets you stitch the barrette together by just flipping up the wings.

And here is the more detailed version. You take the original butterfly felt cut and use the little oval and circle dies to cut openings with stitching holes around them. Then in contrasting felt, you cut the same slightly larger shapes, but with the holes located within the shape parameters. Stitch them together with the contrasting felt behind the butterfly to create these color "patches".

Why the patches? Well, the smaller the shape, the harder it is to get all the stitching holes within the shape diameters. I've got more room to work with when I put the stitching holes on the outside. I also really like the look of an opening with the color behind it. Lots of depth.

I designed the butterflies with the idea that I wanted them to be compatible with the Clever Barrette Covers foremost in my mind. But that doesn't mean you can't put them on other projects such as the Coffee Cozy Dies, Limitless Layers: Hearts Stitching dies, cards, tags, and whatever else you dream up. And then you've got to take into account what else I might have up my sleeve in the future. Knowledge I'm privy to and that you'll see over the next several months. I'll just say that I've got a VERY BIG SLEEVE:). Hold onto your hats.

With all that in mind, I built in various ways to attach the butterfly to other projects beyond the barrettes. Three different ways, actually. You can die cut holes to stitch the entire butterfly body with antennae detail to your project as seen in the die to the far left. You can stitch just the body with antennae detail to your project, as seen in the middle here. Or you can stitch just the body to your project, which you see here to the right and on the barrettes I created above. Sweet versatility.

That's it for today. Two more Seasonal Stitches dies to go over the next few days. I hope that I was able to get across how versatile the Seasonal Stitches: Butterflies dies can be, sweet little things that they are.

More inspiration below. These dies and all the rest of the PTI March line up will be available at 10 PM EST at www.papertreyink.com. I'll be back tomorrow with more.

Nichole Heady
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Lizzy Jones
Melissa Bickmore