Sheriff star badge hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 2 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Sheriff star badge: preview of the stitched design

A sheriff’s star stands in a ring: six points, each split down its middle into a dark half and a light half of satin stitch, each laid its own way, so that the star seems to stand up from the cloth and the light catches its twelve facets in turn. A solid ball sits on the tip of every point, and a double ring of stem stitch goes round the whole.

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.

2 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)	1.9 × 1.9 in	4.8 × 4.8 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.9 × 2.9 in	7.4 × 7.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.8 × 3.8 in	9.7 × 9.7 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.8 × 4.8 in	12.2 × 12.2 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.7 × 6.7 in	17 × 17 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.

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 StrawDark half of a point, balls on the points and ring
DMC 726 Light TopazLight half of a point

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 strandsDark half of a point, light half of a point, balls on the points
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsRing

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.