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Fair Isle bands needlepoint pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 4 × 4 in · 18 mesh

Colors: Nordic redChange

Fair Isle bands: 72 by 72 stitches in tent stitch.

Download free PDFPDF, US Letter · 32 KB

Rows of red diamonds run across a white ground, each row with small navy triangles pointing up above it and pointing down below it. A thin line of slanted red dashes divides one set of rows from the next.

Size and details

The chart is 72 × 72 stitches: a sample of a pattern that repeats, the size of a coaster on 18 mesh. The chart shows 3 repeats across and about 3 and a half down; one repeat is 24 × 21 stitches. The pattern can be carried on to any size.

Worked in tent stitch throughout.

Intermediate: 3 colors. Over the whole chart, changes of color are about 3 stitches apart. With up to 7 colors, closer than 3.5 apart is Intermediate and 3.5 or more is Beginner.

Colors

The sample in the chart, on each mesh
MeshStitched sizeCanvas to cut
107.2 × 7.2 in
18.3 × 18.3 cm		11.2 × 11.2 in
28.4 × 28.4 cm
126 × 6 in
15.2 × 15.2 cm		10 × 10 in
25.4 × 25.4 cm
135.5 × 5.5 in
14.1 × 14.1 cm		9.5 × 9.5 in
24.2 × 24.2 cm
145.1 × 5.1 in
13.1 × 13.1 cm		9.1 × 9.1 in
23.2 × 23.2 cm
184 × 4 in
10.2 × 10.2 cm		8 × 8 in
20.3 × 20.3 cm

Mesh is the number of canvas threads to the inch; the row in bold is the mesh this chart is sized for. Canvas to cut includes a margin of 2 in (5.1 cm) of bare canvas on every side. Leave at least that much.

Paper for the PDF

Threads and canvas

Nordic red

  • DMC BLANC White 3,456 stitches about 24 yards
  • DMC 321 Red 972 stitches about 7 yards
  • DMC 823 Dark Navy Blue 756 stitches about 6 yards

5,184 stitches in the chart, about 37 yards in all. The yards are estimates for 18 mesh.

Thread colors are approximate screen matches to DMC numbers. Check against real thread before you buy.

The numbers are DMC color numbers, which its six-strand cotton and its pearl cotton share. Wool and silk are numbered differently: match those by eye. For how many strands and which needle, see which thread suits which mesh.

The yards are of thread as it is threaded in the needle: stitched with several strands together, a thread takes that many yards of single strand for every yard listed. For six-strand cotton on 18 mesh, the thread and needle chart gives 4 to 6 strands.

You also need blank needlepoint canvas (mono canvas) in the mesh you choose (see mesh sizes) and a tapestry needle. The table above sizes the sample charted: for a bigger piece, cut the canvas to the size you will stitch and 2 in more on every side.

An estimate. The length of thread one stitch uses on the front and back of the canvas, times the number of stitches, plus 30 percent for starting, ending and the tail left in the needle. Each count is estimated as basketweave or continental and rounded up to a whole yard, so the yards in all are a little more than the thread calculator gives for every stitch at once. The 30 percent is this site's own choice. The thread calculator works the same estimate for any count and mesh.

Getting it onto your canvas

This is a counted chart: one square of the chart is one stitch. Find the center of your canvas and the center of the chart (the red arrows above and to the left of the chart), and count out from there, a color at a time.

Nothing is printed on the canvas, so no transfer is needed. How to needlepoint covers the first stitches.

Downloads

Each file has the thread key and the sizes on its first page, then the chart with a symbol in every square and a heavier line every ten. A chart too large for one page is divided over several, with two rows or columns repeated in gray where the pages join; a page may be turned on its side for a part that is wider than it is tall.

For your own stitching, gifts and handmade pieces you sell. Do not resell or share this PDF.

New to needlepoint? How to needlepoint

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