How to Cross Stitch - the Cross Stitch

The Ultimate How To Cross Stitch Guide - Post 3 is all about the main, nay essential stitch involved in cross stitching.

The Cross Stitch

The main stitch in cross stitch is, funnily enough, the cross stitch.  It consists of two short stitches to make up the cross.  Aida is great material to stitch on because (as you can see below) the square are already present, making it easy to make your crosses.

To stitch a cross, you position your needle behind the fabric and come up at 1, then push it down at 2. Come up again at 3, and push it down again at 4 and, voilà, you have your cross.

Usually in cross stitch, you need to make a row of stitches.  Rather than stitching each cross individually (which would be rather tedious and time consuming), you stitch a row of the bottom half, then come back along the row stitching the top half.

Then it's all just a matter of reading the pattern and counting, skipping over the blank squares or squares with other colours in them.  You may find it is helpful to use a highlighter to cross off the squares you've already stitched so you don't lose your place, particularly on larger or more complex designs.

Finishing off

To finish off your thread, weave the needle under five or six stitches to anchor it in place before cutting off the excess thread.  Alternatively, you can anchor it in place by your next five or six stitches, using the running start method from the previous post.

Coming Up...

Next post I'll show you backstitch, which is even simpler than the cross stitch.  In a future post  I'll also show you how to stitch on evenweave, which is my preferred fabric.

Happy Stitching!