Free Beaded Butterfly Pattern - Square Stitch Tutorial

Create this delicate butterfly pendant with our free beading pattern — perfect for beginners!

Whether it's Spring, or you just wish it was, this cheery butterfly pattern is a quick beading square stitch project, especially for beginners. If you're more comfortable using a beading loom, the design will work for that too, but you will be tying in a lot more threads.

Have you tried square stitch beading before? If not, you may want to check out my square stitch tutorial before moving on to this project. This project assumes you know square stitch and focuses more on following a beadwork pattern and other techniques to create the finished pendant and necklace.

Square stitch bead butterfly materials

Materials: (Note color names listed below are the best equivalents I could find to my old bead stock)

• Size 11 Miyuki Rocaille opaque luster canary
• Size 11 Miyuki Rocaille opaque butter cream luster alabaster
• Size 11 Toho Round opaque antique bronze
• size 11 Toho Round semi-glazed rainbow turquoise
• 6 mm round Druk in teal
• KO beading thread beige
• Bead tip antique gold-plated brass, 8x5mm triangle
• John James Beading needle

Make the pendant first, and then as a separate step, you can add the beaded necklace chain. Of course, you can also use the butterfly design for earrings or other jewelry.

Square stitch uses more thread than other stitches like peyote or brick stitch. You will need a full wingspan arm's length of thread for this project (hold the thread in your left hand, pull thread to the furthest point of your outstretched right arm). Pre-stretch nylon thread. I use a single strand of thread.

Start your square stitch beaded butterfly by stringing a stop bead

Start by stringing a stop bead.

Put your needle through the last bead of the first row

Pick up the beads for the first row, plus the first bead of the second row. Stitch through the last bead of the first row to begin the first square stitch. 

Put your needle back through the bead you added to finish the square stitch

Finish the square stitch by stitching back through the bead you added. Continue adding beads in square stitch following the pattern below. You will find the full free bead word chart and diagram (for personal use only) at the bottom of this page. 

Butterfly square stitch (or loom) bead diagram

I start beading from the bottom left corner of the diagram. Square stitch beading alternates direction from left to right and then right to left for each row. Continue adding beads one at a time following the diagram until you reach the end of the row.

Reinforcing the rows is optional but helps 'square up' the beads

After completing every two rows, I reinforce the row by stitching back down and up the beads. This helps the bead line up and gives the beadwork a little more body - especially when using a soft nylon beading thread like KO. It's an optional step though, so do what works best for you.

Continue adding beads in square stitch following the bead diagram and word chart.

Next step: weave the thread ends in!

When you are done with the pattern, weave in the the thread ends using half hitch knots hidden in the body of the beadwork. After each knot, weave the thread through several beads to hide and secure the thread end before cutting it.

So many options to hang your pendant - I threaded it directly to a bead chain

I attached the beaded necklace chain by stitching directly through the top row of the butterfly pendant. However, there are many other ways to connect it—such as adding jump rings at the corners, creating a beaded loop at the center, or using a wire guardian for a more polished finish.

The necklace chain is strung on a full arm’s span of doubled KO nylon thread. I initially tried FireLine, but it didn’t drape well, so I switched to doubled KO thread instead. It proved to be both strong and supple—perfect for this design.

The clasp is attached using clam shell bead tips. I have a video tutorial that demonstrates how to use them, but the basic process is simple: I use a secure stop bead inside the tip to hold tension, then add a drop of glue to keep everything in place. 

Alternatively, you can create a small loop of seed beads at each end to attach the clasp—there’s a quick video for that method as well.

Bead Stringing Pattern for Necklace Chain:

• Stop bead
• Bead tip
• 1 bronze bead
• 5 light yellow beads
• 3 dark yellow beads
• 1 bronze bead
• 3 dark yellow beads
• 5 light yellow beads
• 1 bronze bead
• 1 teal druk bead
• Repeat steps 3–10 seven times total
• Repeat the same seed bead pattern without the teal druk bead
• Stitch through the top row of the square stitch pendant

• Mirror the entire pattern in reverse on the other side

The final step is to add the clamshell bead tip, secure the thread with a stop bead and a drop of glue inside the tip, then close it. Attach the clasp to the bead tip loop and gently close the loop to finish.

For a different look, try using size 11 Delica beads—they'll give your butterfly a more refined, uniform appearance compared to regular round seed beads. You can also experiment with adding fringe or embellishments to make the design your own.

Have you tried your own variation? Let me know in the comments—I’d love to see what you come up with!

You might also like:

• Twisted Bead Fringe Tutorial
• KO Beading Thread Review
• Square Stitch Beading Tutorial
• Beadographer Beading Software Review

Here is the complete bead pattern made with BeadTool4. Click on the image for a larger view.