Shooting star hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 3 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Shooting star: preview of the stitched design

A shooting star flies up and to the right. The five-pointed star is tipped the way it flies, its five arms each worked across in satin stitch; three full streaks of satin stitch come out from behind it side by side and taper along one long curve, the middle one the longest; and a row of two small four-pointed stars in satin stitch and a French knot, each smaller than the last, runs along either side of the trail.

Size and details

Easy. In a hoop of 6 inches or less: short satin stitches, no shading; in a larger hoop the widest satin stitches are long.

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)	1.5 × 1.4 in	3.8 × 3.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.2 × 2.1 in	5.6 × 5.3 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.9 × 2.7 in	7.4 × 6.9 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.7 × 3.4 in	9.4 × 8.6 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.1 × 4.8 in	13 × 12.2 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 726 Light TopazStreaks
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawStar
DMC 336 Navy BlueSmall stars and knots

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 strandsStreaks, star, small stars
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsKnots

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.