Volleyball in a ring of stars hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 3 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Volleyball in a ring of stars: preview of the stitched design

A volleyball sits in a ring of stars. The ball is outlined in navy stem stitch and its teal seams are stem stitch too, three faces of three bands each whose seams meet in the middle of the ball. The fourteen gold stars are satin stitch, all upright, and make a round frame for the ball.

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)	1.8 × 1.9 in	4.6 × 4.8 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.7 × 2.8 in	6.9 × 7.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.6 × 3.7 in	9.1 × 9.4 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.6 × 4.6 in	11.7 × 11.7 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.4 × 6.5 in	16.3 × 16.5 cm	3/8 in (10 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 3852 Very Dark StrawStars
DMC 336 Navy BlueBall outline
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseSeams

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 strandsStars
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsBall outline, seams

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.