It works fine, but it's definitely less pretty than the 50 star layout. The aspect ratio is dramatically different, requiring significantly more vertical placement to the stars. The diagonals have to be about 72 degrees, rather than the 40 degrees with 50 stars. And it's definitely less symmetric as a result -- you can't mirror it vertically or rotate it 180 degrees. And the diagonals are weird (1, 3, 5, 6, ..., 6, 4, 2) instead of symmetric (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1).

But you're right -- if it's waving in the breeze or on stand, you're not going to notice. 1 star just doesn't matter when there's 51 of them.

I would rather go with a completely different star design than one that's close enough that most people won't notice.