Seven sisters quilt hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Seven sisters quilt: preview of the stitched design

Seven Sisters, the old quilt of seven stars, is seamed in back stitch inside a hexagon: one six-pointed star sits in the middle with six round it, each of six diamonds that meet at a French knot, and the stars touch tip to tip so that the cloth left between them makes six small hexagons. Each of the forty-two diamonds is filled with satin stitch laid across it, the middle star in gold and the six round it in red, and the hexagon frames them all.

Size and details

Intermediate. Satin stitch over about a quarter of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop and a great deal of stitching; 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)	1.7 × 2 in	4.3 × 5.1 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.5 × 2.9 in	6.4 × 7.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.4 × 3.9 in	8.6 × 9.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.2 × 4.9 in	10.7 × 12.4 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.9 × 6.8 in	15 × 17.3 cm	1/2 in (13 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 1/2 in (13 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 StrawMiddle star and knots in the six stars round it
DMC 304 Medium RedSix stars round the middle star and knot in the middle star
DMC 336 Navy BlueSeams and hexagon

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 star, six stars round the middle star
Back stitch 2 strandsSeams, hexagon
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsKnot in the middle star, knots in the six stars round it

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.