Stars and stripes shield in laurel hand embroidery pattern

Advanced · 5 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Stars and stripes shield in laurel: preview of the stitched design

A shield of stars and stripes stands inside a laurel wreath that is open at the top. The band across the top of the shield, its chief, is navy and carries three white stars in a row; below it run seven upright stripes, four red and three white. Two laurel branches spring from a navy star under the point of the shield and rise round it, each with thirteen pairs of leaves that grow smaller to a single leaf at the tip; each leaf is half dark green and half light green. The top band is long and short stitch, the laurel stems are stem stitch, and the stars, the stripes and the leaves are satin stitch.

Size and details

Advanced. Uses long and short stitch, satin stitch over about a fifth of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop and a great deal of stitching.

5 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)	1.9 × 1.8 in	4.8 × 4.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.8 × 2.7 in	7.1 × 6.9 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.8 × 3.6 in	9.7 × 9.1 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.7 × 4.5 in	11.9 × 11.4 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.6 × 6.3 in	16.8 × 16 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)

The pattern is drawn inside a circle about half an inch (1.3 cm) smaller all around than the hoop.

What you need

DMC 986 Very Dark Forest GreenLaurel stems and darker half of each laurel leaf
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter half of each laurel leaf
DMC 336 Navy BlueStar at the foot and navy top band
DMC B5200 Snow WhiteStars and white stripes
DMC 304 Medium RedRed stripes

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

Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsLaurel stems
Satin stitch 2 strandsLaurel leaves (each half slanted to the center vein, in its own color), star at the foot, stars, red stripes, white stripes
Long and short stitch 1 or 2 strandsNavy top band

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.