Blazing star quilt hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Blazing star quilt: preview of the stitched design

A blazing star is seamed in back stitch: eight large diamond points meet at a French knot in the middle, each pieced of four small diamonds, two by two, thirty-two in all. The small diamonds make three rings round the middle and every one is filled with satin stitch laid across it, the eight at the middle and the eight at the tips red and the sixteen between them gold.

Size and details

Intermediate. Satin stitch over about a quarter of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop; from a 6 inch hoop up some of the satin stitches are long.

3 colors of floss and 3 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.5 × 1.5 in	3.8 × 3.8 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.3 × 2.3 in	5.8 × 5.8 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.1 × 3.1 in	7.9 × 7.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.8 × 3.8 in	9.7 × 9.7 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.4 × 5.4 in	13.7 × 13.7 cm	9/16 in (14 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 9/16 in (14 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.
In a 3 inch hoop the French knot is drawn smaller than about 2 mm (a little over 1/16 in). Use one strand of floss for it 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 304 Medium RedMiddle ring and tips
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawRing between and middle
DMC 336 Navy BlueSeams

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

Satin stitch 2 strandsMiddle ring and tips, ring between
Back stitch 2 strandsSeams
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsMiddle

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.