Hand Embroidered Garden Beetles Using Pre-Cut Wool Circles

These pre-cut wool circles come in various sizes and colors are a huge time saver! Here’s one idea on how to purpose pre-cut circles into some cute garden beetles that can be appliquéd onto bags, accessories, or integrated into a quilt block or another project. Use simple hand embroidery stitches to bring it all together.

Materials:

Download the free pattern by clicking here.

Pre-cut Wool Circles:
1 1/2” in Orange, Green, Yellow
1/4” in Grey

#8 Eleganza Perle Cotton Embroidery Thread:
EZ200 Black, EZ144 Emerald, EZ226 Dandelion Puff

Efina 60wt Egyptian Cotton Appliqué Thread:
EF34 Sun Yellow, EF13 Electric Lime, EF21 Rhubarb, EF30 Black

To begin, pin your 1 ½” size pre-cut wool circles to your quilt block or project. Appliqué them down using the Efina 60wt cotton. If you are using the pre-cut wool circles pictured below, Efina thread is actually designed to match the colors in the wool perfectly so it disappears almost completely.

After appliquéing the pieces, your beetles should look something like this.

You can now begin embroidering the little details in! We used a disappearing marker to trace the beetle patterning, making it easy to follow when stitching.

We’ll be hand embroidering the beetles using Eleganza #8 perle cotton. Using a simple backstitch or chain stitch is all you need to trace the outlines and legs, but get creative and experiment with other stitches to add texture and dimension!

Whether you follow our pattern or create your own, we’d love to see what you made. Tag us on Facebook @wonderfil or Instagram @wonderfilspecialtythreads, or using the hashtag #wonderfil. Happy crafting!