Floating astronaut hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 4 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Floating astronaut: preview of the stitched design

An astronaut in a bulky suit and a round helmet floats at a tilt among small stars, one arm lifted in a wave and the knees loosely bent. The suit, the helmet and the visor are back stitch outlines, the visor has two straight stitches of shine, the stripes on the chest pack and the boot soles are satin stitch, the four-pointed stars are back stitch outlines too, and the button and the smallest stars are French knots.

Size and details

Easy. Back stitch, straight stitch and French knots, with a little satin stitch.

4 colors of floss and 4 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.7 × 1.6 in	4.3 × 4.1 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.5 × 2.4 in	6.4 × 6.1 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.3 × 3.2 in	8.4 × 8.1 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.1 × 4 in	10.4 × 10.2 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.8 × 5.7 in	14.7 × 14.5 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)

In a 3 inch hoop the French knots are drawn smaller than about 2 mm (a little over 1/16 in). Use one strand of floss for them there, or choose a larger hoop.

The pattern is drawn inside a circle about half an inch (1.3 cm) smaller all around than the hoop.

What you need

DMC 336 Navy BlueLife-support pack, left boot, right boot, left leg, right leg, knee folds, body of the suit, belt, chest pack, left glove, right glove, left arm, right arm, elbow folds and cuffs, helmet, and collar ring
DMC 304 Medium RedBoot soles and stripes on the chest pack
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawButton on the chest pack, stars and small stars
DMC 3755 Baby BlueVisor and shine on the visor

The floss is six-strand cotton; the stitch guide says how many strands to use. You also need a hoop, an embroidery needle (a size 7 to 9 suits two or three strands) and plain cotton or linen fabric. To frame the piece in its hoop, cut a square 3 inches (8 cm) wider than the hoop: a 9 inch (23 cm) square for a 6 inch hoop.

Stitch guide

Back stitch 2 strandsLife-support pack, left boot, right boot, left leg, right leg, knee folds, body of the suit, belt, chest pack, left glove, right glove, left arm, right arm, elbow folds and cuffs, helmet, visor, collar ring, stars
Satin stitch 2 strandsBoot soles, stripes on the chest pack
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsButton on the chest pack, small stars
Straight stitch 2 strandsShine on the visor

Getting it onto your fabric

The PDF holds the pattern twice at actual size: once as drawn, and once mirrored for an iron-on transfer pen. Print it at 100% with scaling off and check the one-inch square (25.4 mm) with a ruler before you trace. How to transfer a pattern explains tracing, carbon paper and the other ways. The files are under Downloads.