How to cross stitch

What you need

• Aida cloth, 14 count. Aida is woven in small blocks with a clear hole at each corner, so you can see where the needle goes. 14 count means 14 squares to the inch (2.5 cm). Each pattern’s PDF gives the size of the stitched area and the size to cut, with 3 inches (7.5 cm) to spare on every side.
• A tapestry needle, size 24. It has a blunt point, which slips into the holes without piercing the cloth, and a large eye.
• Six-strand cotton floss in the colors of the chart’s key. On 14 count you stitch with two of the six strands.
• Small, sharp scissors and the printed chart.
• A hoop or frame, if you like. It holds the cloth flat while you stitch. Many stitchers work without one.

What you need for cross stitch has the full list, and needle sizes and how many strands to use cover other fabrics.

Get the thread ready

1. Cut a length of floss, 15 to 18 inches (38 to 46 cm). If it tangles as you stitch, cut the next one shorter.
2. Take the strands out one at a time. Hold the length near one end, take hold of a single strand and draw it straight up and out.
3. Lay two strands side by side and thread both through the eye of the needle. Do not tie a knot.

Threading a needle shows this step by step.

Find where to start

Most stitchers start near the middle of the design, so that it ends up in the middle of the cloth.

1. Fold the cloth in half and pinch a small crease. Open it, fold it in half the other way and pinch again. The center is where the two creases cross.
2. Find the center of the chart. It is marked with arrows at the edges, or with a heavier line.
3. Read the chart a square at a time. Each symbol is one cross in the color the key gives for it. An empty square is left unstitched.

How to start a cross stitch and how to read a pattern go through both in full.

Start the thread without a knot

A knot makes a bump that shows on the front, so cross stitch is started without one.

1. Bring the needle up from the back of the cloth, and leave a tail of about 1 inch (2.5 cm) behind it.
2. Lay the tail along the row you are about to stitch (1).
3. Make the first five or six stitches. On the back, each one crosses over the tail and holds it down (2).
4. Trim what is left of the tail.

Starting and ending a thread shows the other ways to begin. With two strands of one color, the loop start is the quickest.

Make one cross

1. Bring the needle up at the bottom left hole of the square (1).
2. Take it down at the top right hole (2). That is the first leg, a half stitch.
3. Bring it up at the bottom right hole (3).
4. Take it down at the top left hole (4). The second leg crosses the first, and the cross is made.

Pull each stitch until the thread lies flat on the cloth, and no tighter. A thread pulled hard puckers the cloth.

Some stitchers make the two legs the other way round. Either is fine, as long as every cross in the piece is made the same way.

Work a row of crosses

Where several crosses of one color sit side by side, stitch them as a row, in two passes. Most stitching is done this way: it is quicker.

1. Work from left to right and make only the first leg of each cross: up at the bottom left of the square, down at the top right (1 to 6).

2. At the end of the row, work back from right to left and cross each one: up at the bottom right of the square, down at the top left (7 to 12).

A cross that stands alone is made whole, both legs, before you move on. Starting a new row shows how to go from one row to the next.

Keep every cross the same

The top leg of every cross should slant the same way across the whole piece. Which way does not matter. If some slant one way and some the other, the finished piece looks uneven. Check the first few crosses of each new thread against the ones already made.

End a thread and change color

1. When the thread runs short, or the color is finished, turn the work over.
2. Run the needle under the backs of the last four to six stitches.
3. Trim the thread close to the cloth.
4. Start the next thread the same way as the first.

Do not carry a dark thread across cloth that will stay bare: it can show through on the front. End it and start again instead. Changing colors has more on this.

When the stitching is done

If the piece needs it, wash it by hand in cool water with a little mild detergent, then press it face down on a towel. How to wash cross stitch and how to iron it give the steps. Then frame it, or finish it in a hoop: how to finish cross stitch sets out the choices.

Every cross stitch chart on Floss Field uses full cross stitches only: no backstitch and no fractional stitches. If a chart looks wrong, tell us.