Welcome, and Relax! Counted cross stitch is very, very easy to learn and do. These directions will cover the basics for working with both perforated paper and cloth, since BitterStitch patterns can be used with either one. Materials The minimum materials required for counted cross stitch are a tapestry needle, embroidery floss, scissors, some kind of material to stitch the design onto, and a pattern. Optional materials include an embroidery hoop, ruler, colored pencils and beads, buttons or other decorative materials to use as accents in the design. How to Read A Pattern Patterns may be printed in black and white or color. In a black and white pattern, a different symbol will be used to represent each color in the design and a key will be provided to explain which color of embroidery floss should be used to make the stitches represented by each symbol. The key may list manufacturer names and those manufacturers item numbers for each color to be used, as shown in the examples on this page, or it may simply list color names and leave it up to you to select the specific colors yourself. In a full-color pattern, colors in the pattern roughly approximate the colors of floss to be used. Often, the pattern will still include symbols inside the colored squares so the stitcher can work in the preferred way: relying on colors or symbols. A key will still be provided. In the key shown below, which was generated by the Dark Lilac pattern generator at www.darklilac.com, the total number of stitches per color and the number of floss strands to use for each color are also specified. In both color and black and white patterns, the center of the pattern is typically indicated in one of two ways: either with arrows printed along the outside edge of the pattern or boldface lines within the pattern. The center of the pattern is where the boldface lines intersect, or where the lines indicated by the arrows intersect. Also, either type of pattern will indicate special stitches (i.e., French knots, half stitches, backstitches) with symbols in both the body of the pattern and the pattern key. BitterStitch 2006 April Hamilton 1
Getting Ready to Stitch Get your supplies together. If you re stitching on fabric, seal the edges with masking tape to prevent fraying. If you re buying your own floss and the pattern doesn t specify how much floss is needed, you ll have to count how many Xs of each color are in the pattern and do some calculations. Floss is sold in hanks of a little more than 26 feet of looped thread, and the thread is usually made up of 6 individual strands twisted together. Patterns specify how many strands to use for each type of stitch (see Strand Your Floss section). You ll get about 18 complete Xs per foot of floss. If you re working with 2 strands, each foot of 6-strand floss provides 3 2-strand lengths, which means 3x18 or 54 Xs. With 3 strands, each foot provides 2 3-strand lengths for 2x18 or 36 Xs. Count the number of strands in the floss before calculating how many hanks to buy, and buy about 20% extra to account for floss waste when working around unstitched areas (see Moving Between Stitched Areas section). Using colored pencils to fill in a black and white pattern can help enormously, especially with complex multi-colored patterns. The many different, tiny symbols are easy to confuse as you work across a row. Sizing Up Your Pattern and Stitching Material The size of the finished piece depends on the count of the material you are stitching on, or how many holes there are per inch of material. The more holes per inch the smaller the finished design, and viceversa. Aida cloth is commonly sold in counts ranging from 12 22, but larger and smaller count cloth is available. Perforated paper is typically 14-count. Count is printed on the label of the material. Some patterns state the finished size of the design when worked on different counts, but sometimes you ll have to figure it out by yourself. Measure off one inch of material and count the holes, then count how many squares your pattern has across its width and height. Finished Width = (#of squares wide) / stitching material count Finished Height = (# of squares tall) / stitching material count Find the Center of Your Stitching Material But Only If You Want To Every counted cross stitch pattern I ve ever seen advises the stitcher to work from the center of the design outward, in a rough spiral. I think this is to ensure the finished piece is centered on the stitching material, which makes framing easier. However, if you already know the size of the finished design it s easy enough to center it wherever you d like on your stitching material and then work the pattern from the upper left-hand corner, across to the right and down to the bottom. That s my preferred method because I don t lose my place as easily or as frequently, compared to working from the center outward. If you go this route, just be sure to leave an adequate width of empty border around the design for your intended framing or finishing method. With cloth, you can find the center by folding in half once, then once again. Mark the square of fabric in the center of the double-folded corner with a safety pin, or run a brightly-colored length of floss through it diagonally. If working with any other material, you can use a ruler to find the center of the material and then mark it with a length of floss or, on perforated paper, a light pencil mark. Strand Your Floss and Thread Your Needle Take out a length of the desired color of floss. If your floss isn t pre-cut, cut a length of about 18 to work with; anything longer will be prone to tangling while you work. Separate the floss into individual strands. Picking the floss apart into groups of the desired number of strands isn t good enough, the grouped strands will tangle and knot as you try to pull them apart and the grouped strands will be inconsistently twisted, preventing your stitches from lying flat. Recombine the number of strands specified in the pattern, even up the ends and thread your needle. If the pattern does not specify, as a general rule use 3 strands on 10-12 count cloth, 2 strands on 14-18 count cloth, 1 strand on 22-24 count cloth, 3 strands on 14-count perforated paper and 3-6 strands (to desired stitch thickness) on wire mesh screen. BitterStitch 2006 April Hamilton 2
Read all the way through this page BEFORE you begin to stitch. The method shown here ensures your stitches are formed consistently, minimizes floss waste, and keeps the back of your work tidy and flat. Essentially you work across a row from left to right, making the first half of each X with right-leaning stitches, then go back from right to left and cross all the lines with left-leaning stitches to complete the Xs. Floss has a sheen that reflects light, so stitches that don t lean the same way as all the surrounding stitches will stand out and make the finished piece look sloppy. If you re a lefty, the basic method is the same but you may be more comfortable working from right to left in the first pass, then working back from left to right to complete each row of Xs. DON T make a knot to anchor your floss when making your first stitch! Hold the last inch or so of floss behind the first few squares of the row so it will be caught under the vertical stitch lines on the back. Use this method on all areas of your pattern wherever possible. About the only times you can t are when you need to stitch vertical lines of Xs, or words. In those cases, you ll need to work each X individually. Note that regardless of whether you re stitching blocks of Xs or not, you must be consistent in the order of stitching throughout the whole project: if your first X begins with a right-leaning line, ALL the rest of your stitches must begin that way. If it begins with the left-leaning line, make them ALL that way. BitterStitch 2006 April Hamilton 3
Using Tension To Avoid Stress Keep your floss at an even tension as you work, so that your stitches lay flat but aren t pulled tight enough to stretch out the holes of your fabric (or tear the holes of your perforated paper!). The floss will tend to twist and coil up as you work, leading to tangles and knots. Periodically stand up and let the needle fall free to relax any twists that begin to form, just as you d do with a twisted phone cord. If you re working on cloth, you may want to use an embroidery hoop to keep your fabric flat and taut as you work. An embroidery hoop is actually two, nested hoops that are designed to fit tightly together with material held between them, like the head of a drum. Center the area you ll be stitching over the smaller of the two nesting hoops, then carefully push the larger of the two hoops onto the smaller hoop, catching your fabric between the two hoops. Gently pull the exposed edges of the fabric outward while keeping the larger hoop pressed down to make the fabric lie as flat and smooth in the hoop as possible. Turn the screw on the larger hoop to tighten it and hold the fabric securely. Moving Between Stitched Areas When the piece is finished there will usually be areas of varying size that don t have any stitches covering them, and those areas require a little extra attention during the stitching process. Never run your floss behind more than 3 empty squares (meaning, squares that will not be stitched when the piece is finished) to get to the next area of the same color. It s very tempting, since the alternatives are more time-consuming (see below), but DON T DO IT! The line of floss is likely to peek out from behind the empty holes in the front of the design, and you also risk uneven floss tension, with stitches pooching out in ugly, loose loops all over the place. The first way to deal with the wide, open spaces is to run your threaded needle behind the vertical lines of floss from other stitched areas, essentially using previously stitched areas like a bridge to get your floss around the empty patch and over to where it s needed next. This method is fine when the sections to be bridged are very near each other, say 1.5 or less. When the gap is wider, this method wastes too much floss and adds too much bulk to the back of your piece. Also, running floss under the vertical stitch lines pulls the stitches on the front of the piece a tiny bit tighter each time you do it; be wary of using the same bridges over and over again, particularly if you re working on perforated paper, since the holes can tear if the stitches become too tight. The second method is to simply end the floss: run your still-threaded needle under a few vertical lines at the back of the row you ve just finished, snip your floss and begin the next area in the usual way. Switching Colors When you will be alternating colors, like in a border of alternating red and black squares, you don t have to end the first color before beginning the second one (and vice versa). At the end of the first block of color, pull your needle off the floss and leave the long tail of floss hanging loose at the back of your work. Start the second color, catching the first color s tail behind the first row of stitches in the second color to bridge the first color across to where you ll need it next. You can pull the long tail of the first color around to the front of your design and hold it there under your thumb until you need it again, or you can re-thread your needle with it and run it through a few holes at the edge of your stitching material to keep it out of your way. Running Out Of Floss Before All The Xs Are Crossed This is really no big deal. Just run the tail of floss that s running out under the vertical lines of floss on the back of your material as usual, and begin a new length of the same color where you need to continue crossing your Xs. Catch the loose end of the new floss behind the first few stitches as usual to secure it. BitterStitch 2006 April Hamilton 4
Finishing A Piece Stitched on Fabric When you re done stitching on fabric, the finished piece will have to be blocked with an iron following the directions of the fabric manufacturer. The blocked piece can then be framed as desired. If the design is small and centers neatly in an embroidery hoop, you can just leave it in the hoop in lieu of framing. I ve found this can make for a nice, simple presentation if the hoop is wooden and the tightening screw is centered at the top of the hoop to create a hole for hanging. Finishing A Piece Stitched on Perforated Paper Dig The Many Options! Trim the piece to desired size or shape, to within one empty hole of desired edge. Allow at least one extra row of empty holes on all sides if you intend to hang the finished piece, unframed. Otherwise, be sure to allow at least one unused "square" of paper between the stitched edge of the design and the cut edge of the finished piece. Do not trim right up to the stitched edge, you don't want to cut through any holes that contain floss. LAMINATE IT! If you haven't made a mess of bulky knots on the back of your project, you can even take the finished, trimmed piece to your local copy shop or office store and have it laminated. Got one of those scrapbooking laminator thingies at home? Because perf paper is stiff, that works too. HANG IT, AS-IS! The trimmed piece can be hung on wire, cord or ribbon that's threaded through any of the holes along the top edge of the piece. MAKE IT INTO A MAGNET! Glue card stock to the back of the trimmed piece, trim the card stock to match the edges of the finished piece, and then cement a refrigerator magnet to the back. Alternatively, you can cement a piece of magnetic sheet to the card stock and then trim the magnetic sheet to match the edges of the finished piece. If you've had the piece laminated, you can skip the card stock backing steps. HANG IT ON THE TREE! Sandwich a loop of cord or ribbon between the finished piece and card stock in the desired color, glue the card stock to the finished piece, then trim as above. MAKE IT INTO A BROOCH! To make a small piece into a brooch, cement the flat side of a pin-back to the center back of the finished piece. Select a piece of felt or other non-fraying fabric to use as a backing. Lay the backing material over the back of the finished piece and pierce holes in it to allow the pin and pin catch to come through. Glue the backing material to the finished piece, threading the pin and pin catch through the holes. When dry, trim the edges. WHICHEVER FINISHING METHOD YOU CHOOSE, BE SURE TO USE THE RIGHT GLUE When gluing backing material or card stock to the back of the finished piece, use a generous layer of white glue that dries clear, and spread it over the entire surface to be glued---do not go with a thin bead of glue applied just around the edges. Don't worry about glue squeezing through the holes of the paper a little, since this will hold the backing to the finished piece even more securely. For cementing, use super glue or craft epoxy; hot glue tends to pop off eventually, and most other glues won't hold non-porous things like magnets and metal pin backs securely. BitterStitch 2006 April Hamilton 5
Perforated Paper FAQ WHAT IS PERFORATED PAPER? Perforated paper is a heavy paper that's been punched with row upon row of small holes, typically 14 holes per inch. Sometimes the paper is coated with a very thin layer of plastic to add strength, or handdyed for a custom-crafted look. Because the finished paper is completely covered in evenly-spaced holes, you can use it for cross stitch just as you would use Aida cloth. WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT PERFORATED PAPER? First of all, it's readily available in way more colors and styles than Aida cloth and other typical cross stitch fabrics. I like to keep my designs very simple, with the focus on the words and art, so I mostly stick to white and off-white for the backgrounds. However, perf paper is available in just about all the colors of the rainbow, metallics, and even with pre-printed watermark designs on it. Secondly, you don't use a hoop or frame with perforated paper. Because the heavy paper is stiff, your stitches automatically lay nice and flat. No hoop and no frame means no stretching, and no stretching means no blocking when the project is done. Also, the finished piece does not have to be framed! That's right, no more searching for odd-sized frames or custom-cutting mat board to force your design into a standard-sized frame. Finished projects can be simply hung from wire or cord threaded through the top-most row of holes, or they can be closely trimmed all around the edges to make ornaments, brooches and magnets (see previous page). Of course, they can be framed the old-fashioned way too. DO I NEED ANY SPECIAL SUPPLIES OR SKILLS TO WORK WITH PERFORATED PAPER? Nope. You can use the same embroidery floss and tapestry needles you've always used for working on Aida. If you want to finish your piece as a magnet, brooch or ornament, you'll want to get a pair of small, sharp craft scissors. WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT STITCHING ON PERFORATED PAPER? Clean hands are key; it is only paper after all, and oils will stain and weaken it. Start with freshlywashed, completely dry hands and don't apply any lotions or creams---not even udder cream or bag balm. If you tend to perspire, wash your hands frequently as you work. Be careful not to pull your stitches too tight. If you overdo it, the paper can bend or even tear. Tears are easily repaired with a piece of clear tape on the back of the paper, which you can then stitch through as needed. Because paper doesn't have a raised surface like cloth, scanty floss coverage can allow the background to peek through the stitches. For this reason, designs on perf paper are typically worked with three strands of floss for solid coverage, with a 24-26 gauge tapestry needle to allow for added floss bulk. The holes in perf paper are a fixed size, and a fixed distance apart. This means that unlike Aida cloth, perf paper doesn't allow for half- and quarter stitches. For me, this is yet another selling point: designs worked on perforated paper have to be simple! Also note, perf paper has a "right" side and a "wrong" side. Close your eyes and pass a clean, dry hand over each side of the paper. The side that feels rough is the "wrong" side---the side that was facing away from the hole punch when the paper was perforated. The smooth side is the "right" side, and that's the side you want facing you as you work your design. Finally, if the paper you've chosen is a light color, or you intend to place the finished piece in a place where it may be backlit (such as in front of a window), you will want to pay close attention to how you carry your floss across the back of the piece between stitched areas. BitterStitch 2006 April Hamilton 6