How To Make a Cross-Stitch Pattern
Gail Allen
January 2018
Cross-stitch is a form of embroidery. It can be made on any fabric as long as that fabric has an even weave. That means that there are the same amount of threads on the weft and warp in any given square. Or to put it another way: In any given square there are the same number of threads on the horizontal axis and the vertical axis.
This makes pattern-making a simple case of making a drawing and then placing a grid on top of that drawing and filling in the squares that best match the lines of the original drawing. Afterwards you take away the drawing and begin to edit the lines you already made to ensure the image comes out nicely. If you notice the lines are rougher than you like, you simply need to make the grid finer until the size of the squares fit the detail you would like to include. But take care; the finer the grid, the more stitches you will need to make, as each square in the grid represents a cross in the pattern.
There are a lot of different brands of both cloth and thread to use, and it's pretty much down to personal preference which one you should be using. Aida cloth is one of the easiest cloths to work with, so for a beginner that might be a good place to start. They are categorized by threads per inch, which is called the count of the fabric. The higher the count, the more stitches you will have per inch and the finer the work will appear (and the smaller it will be). It's just like an image made up of only a few pixels. The more you zoom out, thereby making the pixels smaller, the finer the image will appear, but will, of course, also be smaller.
Threads are usually made up of several threads lying side by side. For fabrics with lower counts these can all be used together, but with lower counts the threads should be singled out and used either alone or two at a time so as to not be too large for the fabric. If you see the fabric through the pattern too much, try adding another thread. If you find it looks clunky and uneven, take one out.
To illustrate the process, look at this flower I drew and how it's transformed into a pattern. I've made the colours darker so you can see what's going on. When choosing thread colours, of course go with the original colour (or any other colour you like). Also note how the leaf changes shape after the original image is taken away.
Cross-stitch is a form of embroidery. It can be made on any fabric as long as that fabric has an even weave. That means that there are the same amount of threads on the weft and warp in any given square. Or to put it another way: In any given square there are the same number of threads on the horizontal axis and the vertical axis.
This makes pattern-making a simple case of making a drawing and then placing a grid on top of that drawing and filling in the squares that best match the lines of the original drawing. Afterwards you take away the drawing and begin to edit the lines you already made to ensure the image comes out nicely. If you notice the lines are rougher than you like, you simply need to make the grid finer until the size of the squares fit the detail you would like to include. But take care; the finer the grid, the more stitches you will need to make, as each square in the grid represents a cross in the pattern.
There are a lot of different brands of both cloth and thread to use, and it's pretty much down to personal preference which one you should be using. Aida cloth is one of the easiest cloths to work with, so for a beginner that might be a good place to start. They are categorized by threads per inch, which is called the count of the fabric. The higher the count, the more stitches you will have per inch and the finer the work will appear (and the smaller it will be). It's just like an image made up of only a few pixels. The more you zoom out, thereby making the pixels smaller, the finer the image will appear, but will, of course, also be smaller.
Threads are usually made up of several threads lying side by side. For fabrics with lower counts these can all be used together, but with lower counts the threads should be singled out and used either alone or two at a time so as to not be too large for the fabric. If you see the fabric through the pattern too much, try adding another thread. If you find it looks clunky and uneven, take one out.
To illustrate the process, look at this flower I drew and how it's transformed into a pattern. I've made the colours darker so you can see what's going on. When choosing thread colours, of course go with the original colour (or any other colour you like). Also note how the leaf changes shape after the original image is taken away.
To show a more complete product, I've made this hibernating bear for you all to enjoy. Happy hibernating.