Stars and stripes bow hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Stars and stripes bow: preview of the stitched design

A ribbon bow is worked in stars and stripes. Each loop is five stripes that fan from the knot to the fold, red and white by turns, and the navy inside of the loop shows over its upper edge. The knot is three upright folds, the outer two gold and the middle one yellow. Two navy tails come out from behind the knot, swing outward and end in swallow tails, and each carries three white stars. The tails are long and short stitch; the red and white stripes, the inside of the loops, the knot and the stars are satin stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Uses long and short stitch and satin stitch over about a fifth of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop; from a 6 inch hoop up some of the satin stitches are long.

5 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)	1.6 × 1.5 in	4.1 × 3.8 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.3 in	6.1 × 5.8 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.3 × 3.1 in	8.4 × 7.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.1 × 3.8 in	10.4 × 9.7 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.7 × 5.4 in	14.5 × 13.7 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 336 Navy BlueTails and inside of the loops
DMC B5200 Snow WhiteStars and white stripes
DMC 304 Medium RedRed stripes
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawOuter folds of the knot
DMC 726 Light TopazMiddle fold of the knot

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

Long and short stitch 1 or 2 strandsTails
Satin stitch 2 strandsStars, inside of the loops, red stripes, white stripes, outer folds of the knot, middle fold of the knot

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.