Beginners Guide to Stitching
Starting Cross Stitch
Find the centre of your fabric by folding the fabric in half, lengthways then widthways, giving it a ‘pinch’ to mark a crease. If you are stitching a medium to large design, you may find it helpful to sew a line of tacking stitches along each crease. This can be pulled out when the design is completed.
Always begin stitching from the centre of the chart. This will be marked on the chart as either a ‘c’ in the centre or arrows at the top, bottom, left and right hand sides of the chart.
Some stitchers find it useful to seal the edges of the fabric with masking tape to help prevent the fabric from fraying.
If the design has many different colour threads, avoid stitching all of one colour at a time. It is better to change the thread colour frequently and keep working from the centre outwards.
Stitches
Stitches should always be stitched in the same direction. This gives a lovely even finish to the completed work. Don’t pull the thread too hard because this will cause the fabric to pucker.
Cross Stitches
Cross stitches can be worked in two ways, usually using 2 strands of thread:
Backstitch
Backstitch is like running stitch. It usually requires one strand of thread. See Fig. 3.
1. Sew half stitches across in one direction, then ‘cross’ the stitches by sewing back in the opposite direction. See Fig. 1.
2. Sew full cross stitches one at a time. See Fig. 2.
