Starfish hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Starfish: preview of the stitched design

A starfish is seen from above, one arm straight up: each of its five arms is satin stitch laid across the arm, split down its length by a channel of bare cloth that holds a row of five French knots. The arms are pink and the knots gold, and the arms meet round a woven wheel in brick red.

Size and details

Intermediate. Satin stitch over about a sixth 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)	1.8 × 1.7 in	4.6 × 4.3 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.7 × 2.6 in	6.9 × 6.6 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.6 × 3.4 in	9.1 × 8.6 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.5 × 4.3 in	11.4 × 10.9 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.3 × 6 in	16 × 15.2 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 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseStarfish arms
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawStarfish knots
DMC 355 Dark Terra CottaStarfish middle

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 strandsStarfish arms
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsStarfish knots
Woven wheel stitch 2 strandsStarfish middle

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.