Half Star Needlepoint Border

The eight-pointed star is an iconic patchwork quilt pattern. There are literally hundreds of variations. You can see several eight-pointed star patterns free done for needlepoint here, here, and here).

I used half of one of these stars connected by a line of Tent Stitches to create this open border.

For the border you will need:

• metallic thread
• overdyed thread
• main accent color

The motifs alternate between the overdyed and accent threads. It’s going to be easiest to stitch if you make the metallic line in Tent Stitch first. It is stitched on the eleventh thread below the bottom of the previous border.

Once this row is complete, find the center of the sampler line or border using either the line you drew at the top or the center to the middle unit of the double straight cross border. This will be the center of the middle motif, which is stitched using the overdyed thread. Make this half-star using the chart below.

Once it is complete, you can finish the border. There will be three stars in alternating colors on either side of the center. The tips of each half-star are two threads away from the adjacent stars.

Please note that the half-stars will not go all the way to the ends of the line of Tent Stitches.

I used this border in Stars of Sorrow, a project in Scrap Bag Needlepoint (available here). The complete border sampler project is available free to members of Colorful Needlepoint (join here).
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