Cross stitch guide
Punch needle and cross stitch
No. A punch needle cannot make cross stitches, and neither can the small pen-shaped kind sold as an embroidery pen. It pushes loops of thread through the cloth and never passes to the back to be pulled through, so it has no way to lay one leg over another. Punch needle is a craft of its own, with its own cloth.
What a punch needle does
A punch needle is a hollow needle on a handle (1). The thread runs down through the handle and out of an eye just above the point.
You push the needle straight down through the cloth and lift it out again. The thread it carried down stays behind as a loop (2). Then you slide the point a little way along and push again. On the side you work from, a short flat stitch (3) runs from each hole to the next. On the other side, the loops stand packed together like the pile of a rug.
Nothing ties a loop down. The weave of the cloth grips it, and the loops round it hold it in. Lift the needle too far and the last loop comes out with it.
The finest punch needles look like pens and take embroidery floss. A tool sold as an embroidery pen is one of these: a punch needle too.
Why it cannot make a cross stitch
A cross stitch (4) is two short diagonal stitches, one over the other. To make each one, the whole needle goes through the cloth, the thread is pulled through behind it, and the needle comes up again at another hole.
A punch needle never goes through. It dips in and out from one side, and all it can leave is a loop on the far side and a flat stitch on the near side. It cannot bring the thread back up to cross over the stitch before.
Does Aida work for punch needle?
Aida is not one of the cloths punch needle teachers name. They name:
- monk's cloth, then linen, for the larger needles that take yarn;
- weaver's cloth, which is tightly woven, for the fine needles that take floss.
The reason is the grip. The cloth has to open just enough to let the needle through and then close on the thread. A weave that is too open lets the loops fall out, and the finer the thread, the finer the weave has to be. Aida is woven in blocks with a clear hole at each corner, and it is on none of those lists. If you want to try it anyway, treat it as an experiment and test a scrap first.
Whatever the cloth, it must be stretched as tight as a drum in a hoop or frame that does not slip.
How the two crafts differ
| Cross stitch | Punch needle | |
|---|---|---|
| Tool | A blunt needle with an eye at the end | A hollow needle on a handle, the eye near the point |
| What it makes | Crosses that lie flat | Loops that stand up |
| How the thread is held | The ends are run under other stitches | Only by the weave and the loops around |
| Cloth | Aida, evenweave or linen | Monk's cloth or linen for yarn, weaver's cloth for floss |
| The design | Counted from a chart, with nothing drawn on the cloth | Drawn on the cloth, in reverse when it is worked from the back |
Where to go next
If it is cross stitch you want, what is cross stitch starts from the beginning. For other stitches worked on counted cloth, see embroidery on Aida. For stitches worked freely on plain cloth, go to hand embroidery.