Barn star medallion hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 4 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Barn star medallion: preview of the stitched design

The barn star is a five-pointed star, each point split down its middle into a navy half and a red half of satin stitch, its tips touching the inner of two navy rings, with the five smaller points of a second star showing between them, each half gold and half yellow, and a gold padded satin stitch disc over the middle. Between the two rings of stem stitch runs a border of thirty red sawtooth points in back stitch. Every part repeats evenly round the middle, so it can be stitched a wedge at a time.

Size and details

Intermediate. Uses padded satin stitch and a great deal of stitching.

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)	1.8 × 1.8 in	4.6 × 4.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.7 × 2.7 in	6.9 × 6.9 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.6 × 3.6 in	9.1 × 9.1 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.5 × 4.5 in	11.4 × 11.4 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.3 × 6.3 in	16 × 16 cm	5/8 in (16 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 5/8 in (16 mm) across. Satin stitches longer than about 12 mm (just under 1/2 in) tend to work loose: divide the shape into sections, or work it in long and short stitch.

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 BlueTwo rings and navy halves of the star points
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawGold halves of the smaller points and disc over the middle
DMC 726 Light TopazYellow halves of the smaller points
DMC 304 Medium RedRed halves of the star points and sawtooth points

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

Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsTwo rings
Satin stitch 2 strandsHalves of the star points and of the smaller points
Padded satin stitch 2 strandsDisc over the middle
Back stitch 2 strandsSawtooth points

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.