Cross stitch terms and abbreviations

A to C

• Aida. The usual cloth for cross stitch: cotton woven in small squares with a hole at each corner. See Aida cloth.
• Backstitch. A line of short straight stitches, used for outlines and detail over finished crosses. See Backstitch.
• Binca. A coarse cloth like Aida with large squares, often 6 count, used for teaching children.
• Blending, tweeding or blended needle. Stitching with two colors of thread in the needle together, most often a single strand of each, to mix a shade between them. See Blended threads.
• Chart. The pattern: a grid in which each symbol is one stitch. Also called a pattern or graph. See How to read a cross stitch pattern.
• Confetti. Lone stitches in many different colors, sprinkled through a design where other parts sit in blocks of one color.
• Count, or ct. The number of squares, and so of stitches, to the inch. 14 count has 14. Some sources write HPI, holes per inch.
• Counted cross stitch. Cross stitch worked on blank cloth by counting from a chart. See Stamped vs counted cross stitch.
• Cross country. Stitching one color at a time, moving about the design wherever that color occurs. See Parking, cross country and confetti.

D to F

• Danish method. Working a row of half stitches, then coming back along the row to cross them. Good for blocks of one color.
• English method. Finishing each cross before starting the next. Good for scattered stitches.
• Evenweave. Cloth with the same number of threads to the inch each way. In shops the word usually means a soft cloth of single threads, stitched over two. See Evenweave and linen, over two threads.
• FFO. Fully, or finally, finished object: a piece that is not only stitched but made up, in its frame or sewn into the thing it was meant to be. FO is a finished object.
• Floss. The thread: stranded cotton made of six fine strands that pull apart. See Cross stitch thread.
• Fractional stitches. Quarter and three-quarter stitches, which fill part of a square to smooth a curve. See Half, quarter and three-quarter stitches.
• French knot. A small raised knot made by winding the thread round the needle, used for eyes and dots. See French knots.
• Frogging. Unpicking stitches after a mistake. You rip it, rip it, like a frog's croak. See How to fix mistakes.
• Full coverage. A design, usually a large one, in which stitches cover the whole of the cloth. See Full coverage cross stitch.

G to O

• Gridding. Marking lines on the cloth every ten squares, to match the heavier lines of the chart. The lines come out afterwards. See Gridding.
• Half stitch. One diagonal leg of a cross.
• Hoop. Two rings that hold the cloth taut between them. See Hoops, frames and stands.
• Key, or legend. The list beside a chart that says which thread each symbol stands for.
• Kit. Everything for one design in a packet: cloth, threads, needle and chart. See How to start a cross stitch kit.
• Linen. Cloth woven from flax, with slightly uneven threads, usually stitched over two. See Cross stitch linen.
• LNS. Local needlework shop.
• Loop start. A way to begin a thread with no knot, using one strand folded in half. See Loop start.
• Needle minder. A small magnet that sits on the cloth and holds the needle when you stop. See Needle minders.
• ORT. A snipped-off end of thread. Stitchers spell it out as old raggedy threads, and an ort is also an old word for a scrap. See What to do with leftover thread.
• Over one. A cross over a single thread of evenweave or linen, which makes a tiny stitch.
• Over two. A cross over two threads of evenweave or linen each way. 28 count over two gives the same size as 14 count Aida.

P to S

• Parking. Working with many threaded needles at once: when a color is not needed for a while, its thread is left waiting, parked, where it is next wanted. See Parking, cross country and confetti.
• Perforated paper. Stiff paper punched with a grid of holes, stitched like Aida. See Perforated paper.
• Plastic canvas. A stiff plastic sheet with a grid of large holes. See Plastic canvas.
• Railroading. Passing the needle between the two strands of the thread as it goes down, so that they lie flat side by side. See Railroading.
• SAL. A stitch-along: a pattern released in parts, which many people stitch at the same time.
• Sampler. A piece that gathers alphabets, borders and small motifs, once stitched to learn and to keep as a reference.
• Sewing method and stab method. In the stab method the needle goes straight down and is pulled through, then straight up, so the hands work on both sides of the cloth. In the sewing method the needle goes down and comes up again in one movement, from the front.
• Skein. The small looped bundle that floss is sold in.
• Stamped cross stitch. Cross stitch worked over a design printed on the cloth.
• Stash. A stitcher's store of threads, cloth and patterns.
• Stitch count. The size of a design in stitches, across and down. Divide by the count of the cloth to get inches. The fabric calculator does the sum.
• Strand. One of the six fine threads in a length of floss. Some stitchers call a strand a ply. See How many strands to use.

T to Z

• Tapestry needle. The needle for cross stitch: blunt, with a long eye. See Cross stitch needles.
• UFO. An unfinished object: a project put away part done.
• Waste canvas. A canvas laid over ordinary cloth to give it a grid. Its threads are pulled out when the stitching is done. See Waste canvas.
• Waste knot. A knot that holds a new thread while the first stitches cover its tail, and is then cut off. See How to start and end a thread.
• WIP. A work in progress: what you are stitching now.

What DMC means on a pattern

DMC is a maker of embroidery thread. Each of its colors has a number, and many designers give their colors as DMC numbers, so a line in a key such as "DMC 321" means that maker's color 321. Other makers number their colors differently, and some keys list two makers side by side. A conversion chart matches one maker's numbers to another's nearest shades: see Thread conversion.

Every cross stitch pattern on this site lists its colors as DMC numbers. The DMC thread checklist lets you check off the ones you own.

Cross stitch in other languages

If you are reading a chart or searching in another language, these are the words for the craft:

A chart needs little translating: the symbols and the thread numbers are the same in every language.

Where to go next

New to all of it? Cross stitch for beginners puts these words in the order you will meet them, and How to cross stitch teaches the stitch.