Multicoloured, shaded, painting-like patterns as we know them today are a fairly modern development, deriving from similar shaded patterns of Berlin wool work of the mid-nineteenth century. Cross-stitch is also often used to make greeting cards, pillowtops, or as inserts for box tops, coasters and trivets. Although there are many cross-stitchers who still employ it in this fashion, it is now increasingly popular to work the pattern on pieces of fabric and hang them on the wall for decoration.
Traditionally, cross-stitch was used to embellish items like household linens, tablecloths, dishcloths, and doilies (only a small portion of which would actually be embroidered, such as a border). There are different methods of stitching a pattern, including the cross-country method where one colour is stitched at a time, or the parking method where one block of fabric is stitched at a time and the end of the thread is "parked" at the next point the same colour occurs in the pattern.Ĭross stitch from Surif. These methods are referred to as "2 over 2" (2 embroidery threads used to stitch over 2 fabric threads ) and "1 over 1" (1 embroidery thread used to stitch over 1 fabric thread or square), respectively. For example, if a given design is stitched on a 28 count cross-stitch fabric with each cross worked over two threads, the finished stitching size is the same as it would be on a 14 count aida fabric with each cross worked over one square. Fabrics are categorized by threads per inch (referred to as 'count'), which can range from 11 to 40 count.Ĭounted cross-stitch projects are worked from a gridded pattern called a chart and can be used on any count fabric the count of the fabric and the number of threads per stitch determine the size of the finished stitching.
All cross-stitch fabrics are technically "evenweave" as the term refers to the fact that the fabric is woven to make sure that there are the same number of threads per inch in both the warp and the weft (i.e. Cross-stitch is often executed on easily countable fabric called aida cloth whose weave creates a plainly visible grid of squares with holes for the needle at each corner.įabrics used in cross-stitch include linen, aida cloth, and mixed-content fabrics called 'evenweave' such as jobelan.
Sometimes cross-stitch is done on designs printed on the fabric ( stamped cross-stitch) the stitcher simply stitches over the printed pattern. This form of cross-stitch is also called counted cross-stitch in order to distinguish it from other forms of cross-stitch. The stitcher counts the threads on a piece of evenweave fabric (such as linen) in each direction so that the stitches are of uniform size and appearance. Cross stitching using a hoop and showing use of enamel needle minder.Ĭross-stitch is a form of sewing and a popular form of counted-thread embroidery in which X-shaped stitches in a tiled, raster-like pattern are used to form a picture.
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