North Star hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 2 colors · 6 kinds of stitch

North Star: preview of the stitched design

The North Star is drawn as an eight-pointed compass star with four long faceted points and four short ones, ringed with short rays, and the Little Dipper trails from it as six small stars joined by a dotted line, among three small four-pointed stars and four dots. The star and the small stars are outlined in stem stitch with one half of each long point filled in satin stitch, the rays are straight stitches, the line of the dipper is running stitch and its stars and the dots are French knots.

Size and details

Easy. Line stitches and French knots, with some short satin stitches.

2 colors of floss and 6 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 × 1.5 in	3.6 × 3.8 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.1 × 2.2 in	5.3 × 5.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.8 × 2.9 in	7.1 × 7.4 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.6 × 3.7 in	9.1 × 9.4 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5 × 5.2 in	12.7 × 13.2 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)

In a 3 or 4 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 StrawShort points, shaded halves of the long points, rays, stars of the Little Dipper, small stars and far stars
DMC 336 Navy BlueLong points, facet lines and line of the Little Dipper

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 strandsShort points, long points, small stars
Satin stitch 2 strandsShaded halves of the long points
Back stitch 2 strandsFacet lines
Straight stitch 2 strandsRays
Running stitch 3 strandsLine of the Little Dipper
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsStars of the Little Dipper, far 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.