Butterfly Waltz Baby Blanket: Behind the Scenes

Hello friends! Thanks to everyone who has already picked up a copy of the Butterfly Waltz Baby Blanket pattern. After so many years of working on this design, it’s been such a treat to see it receive a warm welcome. Today, I wanted to share a peek into the design process for this blanket, including where I got my inspiration and the challenges I faced in creating a design that was balanced and unique.

I’ve been dreaming about designing a butterfly crochet pattern for a long time, and researching butterfly designs has become a bit of a pastime for me. The butterfly can be a challenging shape, and I’m always intrigued by the methods that designers have devised to create everything from simple and quick butterflies to more complex and intricate ones.

Small and simple butterflies can be crocheted in a few rounds. Larger butterflies often require clever tactics. One particularly interesting method is to crochet a flowery, eight-sided motif and fold it in half. Some butterfly designs are worked in pieces, which are sewn together. You might also crochet each side of the butterfly by working in rows outward from a central ring. The first two methods tend to create stylized designs, while the last two are typically used for more realistic butterflies.

Inspired by Vintage Butterfly Patterns

One of my favorite finds, and a major inspiration for me, is this vintage butterfly pattern book I picked up several years ago. This book was published in 1951 by The Spool Cotton Company, which at the time was a distributor of J. & P. Coats, Clark’s O.N.T., Chadwick’s Red Heart, and Crown Zippers. You may recognize the present-day companies of Coats & Clark and Red Heart among those names.

The inside cover of the leaflet bears this jaunty inscription:

“All sizes and shapes of brilliant butterflies in a blaze of colors – a gay note of surprising beauty to glamorize your wardrobe and dramatize your home.”

Aren’t those butterfly gloves classy? And the appliques to make a matching hat? Simply marvelous.

The butterflies in this publication were designed for crochet thread (ranging from size 10 to 100) so that the appliques can be used on a blouse, bedspread, handkerchiefs, or curtains.

It also includes designs for placemats, as well as a table runner, tablecloth, doily, and shade pull.

Each of the butterflies in this publication is crocheted in pieces (large wings, small wings, body, and antennae) that are then joined. I can tell that the designers were going for a realistic look with their designs. Each is a delicate and intricate little masterpiece.

The Challenge of Making Butterfly Wings

I knew early on that realism wasn’t my chief concern. Creating a butterfly design that could be crocheted mostly in the round was more important to me, but I still wanted the motif to have a distinctly butterfly shape. Here are some of the methods I used to create my butterfly design.

To define the butterfly’s shape, I used pairs of post stitches that meet in the middle. This gave the impression of a butterfly’s body and outlined the wings as well.

Then, I used rounds with chain spaces alternating with rounds in which you work over the chains and into the stitches 2 rounds below to create dots of contrasting color within the wings.

Once I had those first few rounds, it was time to decide how to shape the wings themselves.

Butterfly designs are particularly challenging because the distinct butterfly shape has bilateral symmetry, meaning that the left and right mirror each other, but the top and bottom are different. When crocheting in the round, it’s easier to make sides that are the same shape. The empty space between the wings also posed a challenge.

I tackled this problem by using taller stitches in the top wings to make them larger than those on the bottom. Adding an extra half-round to the top wings also helped add to their size and polish the shape. Chain spaces separate the wings.

In later rounds, you’ll fill in the empty spaces between the wings by working over or in front of the chains and into the stitches below. By using a special seam stitch, you can also tack down long chains so that they aren’t loose on the back of your work.

It was also important to determine a good placement for the beginning and end of each round so that you can carry the colors not in use up the back of the work, which in turn keeps the number of ends to weave in to a minimum.

After lots and lots of trial and error, I finally had a butterfly shape I could be proud of.

The Dance Begins

The truly magnificent part of this whole journey was when I started joining the motifs. I mentioned in a previous mailing that I had decided to embrace the trapezoidal shape of this motif. That was one of the best decisions I made with this project. Doing so creates an even amount of white space between motifs, which makes for a more balanced design than if they were made into squares. When joined, the butterflies end up in pairs, facing each other as if dancing together in perfect timing.

Join Us Next Time for… Butterfly Waltz Color Inspiration

Be sure to look out for next Friday’s newsletter where I’ll share color inspiration and more. From traditional pastel baby colors to a modern, nature-inspired palette, I’ll share mood boards and examples to help you find the perfect color scheme for your blanket.

Thanks so much for your interest in my design process. I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about this design and how it came to be.

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Having you in my crochet circle means so much to me. Sent on the first Friday, the monthly newsletter features new patterns, new stitch tutorials, tips and tricks, hot topics in the yarn industry, book and yarn reviews, customer projects, and a peek into my design process. Additional special mailings (like this one), which delve deeper into these topics, are sent on the Fridays that follow. In the meantime, you can contact me by replying to this email or crochet@JenniferOlivarez.com. I would love to hear from you!

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