Half sun and half moon hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Half sun and half moon: preview of the stitched design

Half a sun and half a moon share one circle, split down the middle. The left half is the sun, wedges of gold satin stitch around the orange heart of the sun at the center, with five orange rays pointing out to the left. The right half is a navy crescent moon whose back follows the edge of the circle. Beyond the moon stand three navy stars, with a navy French knot for a small star between each two. The sun, the heart of the sun, the rays, the crescent moon and the stars are all satin stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 6 inch hoop up.

3 colors of floss and 2 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.4 × 1.2 in	3.6 × 3 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.1 × 1.7 in	5.3 × 4.3 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.7 × 2.3 in	6.9 × 5.8 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.4 × 2.9 in	8.6 × 7.4 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	4.8 × 4 in	12.2 × 10.2 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 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 3852 Very Dark StrawSun
DMC 922 Light CopperHeart of the sun and rays
DMC 336 Navy BlueCrescent moon, stars and small stars

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 strandsSun, heart of the sun, rays, crescent moon, stars
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsSmall stars

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.