Michelle Pigeon

First you start out by choosing
your fabric. By using
measurement you can
determine the size that you need
the design to be. Fabric count
will determine the finished size
of the design. The most
common used fabric is Aida 14
(14 stitches per inch of fabric)
about 2” wide. Most designs
give you different sizes for
different counts of fabrics
telling you the size of the
finished design.

Second you need to find the
center of the design and fabric.
Following the 2 arrows on the
chart to the middle of the
design you can find the center
stitch where they intersect on
the chart. Next you need to find
the center of your fabric, fold
the fabric in half and then in
half again, marking the middle
square with a pencil/pen. This is
where you will start stitching
your design.

When cross stitching you
need to complete one color at
a time. By doing one color at
a time you need to determine
the amount of floss that you
will need for that section.
Estimate the amount of
skeins for a color needed to
complete the pattern.

Cross stitching requires a lot of
counting. You can use partpart-whole for large sections
knowing that each square (bold
lines) is a 10x10 square. For
example, if you are working on
the border starting in the
bottom left corner you would
count 7 over and realize that
there are 4 larger boxes and 1
small box remaining meaning
7+10+10+10+10+1=48 or 7+(4 x
10)+1=40 squares across.
7 + (
10 + 10
+
10 +
10) + 1 =48



Cross stitching
incorporates angles,
shapes, and coordinates.
There are a lot of 90°
angles, 45° angles, and
135° interwoven into a
cross stitch pattern.
Some patterns have
symmetry. For instance,
the pattern surrounding
Tigger is symmetrical.


Algebra is used in cross
stitching through ratios(rise
over run), patterns, and
meaningful use of reading
symbols.
By reading symbols you
learn which color to use on
the pattern.



Cross stitching even
incorporates fractions.
They have a whole stitch,
one-quarter stitch, and
three-quarter stitch.
The one-quarter stitch is
only one quarter of the
whole stitch. (one corner
of the X) where the threequarter stitch goes
through three corners of
the X.