Sunburst mandala hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 3 colors · 5 kinds of stitch

Sunburst mandala: preview of the stitched design

This sunburst mandala is worked in warm oranges and gold: a woven wheel sits in the middle with a ring of twelve French knots round it, then come two rings of twelve pointed satin stitch petals, the outer ones showing between the inner. A ring of back stitch closes them in, and beyond it twenty-four straight stitch spokes ray out, with a ring of twenty-four French knots outside their tips, one between each two spokes. Every ring repeats evenly, so it can be stitched a wedge at a time.

Size and details

Easy. Short satin stitches, no shading, with a woven wheel.

3 colors of floss and 5 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.8 × 1.8 in	4.6 × 4.6 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.6 × 2.6 in	6.6 × 6.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.5 × 3.5 in	8.9 × 8.9 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.4 × 4.4 in	11.2 × 11.2 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.1 × 6.1 in	15.5 × 15.5 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)

In a 3 or 4 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 922 Light CopperMiddle and outer pointed petals
DMC 355 Dark Terra CottaKnots and ring
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawInner pointed petals and spokes

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

Woven wheel stitch 2 strandsMiddle
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsKnots
Satin stitch 2 strandsPointed petals
Back stitch 2 strandsRing
Straight stitch 2 strandsSpokes

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.