Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Cross Stitch Basics: How to Read a Chart and Keep Your Place

by

Using a magnifier to make cross-stitch pattern reading easier.This time of year is ripe for starting new projects, and possibly new hobbies, or even just for trying new methods of doing things you’ve been doing with less success in the past.

I am the worst, for example, when it comes to properly reading and following cross-stitch charts. I know that it’s totally basic and I should be able to pay more attention to where I am in a cross-stitch pattern, but I always seem to mess it up a little bit.

Oh well, that makes my project unique, right?

If you’d rather stitch the project the way it was intended, this advice from Funk & Weber about keeping your place in a cross-stitch pattern should be helpful.

They recommend enlarging and magnifying patterns and using highlighters or other tools to mark the row you’re on.

Again, pretty basic stuff, but a good reminder that we could probably all stand to follow a little more closely.

How do you keep track of where you are in a chart? I’d love to hear your tips.

[Photo via Funk & Weber.]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

Rosh Hashanah Cross Stitch Patterns

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year celebration, and it’s a time full of special symbols and meaningful happenings that are perfect for stitching. Anything with a bee or honeycomb, apple, pomegranate or challah on it would be a great choice for stitching this time of year. 

Or how about a towel to cover your challah that includes all those other symbols? This pattern from Sew Perfectly Designed has bees, honeycomb, an apple and a pomegranate, as well as stars of David. (This is really a hand towel but you could also stitch the design on a tea towel to use on the table.) The original design includes some partial stitches but the designer says you can make them all full stitches and backstitch to get the proper effect on the lettering if you’d rather. It uses 15 colors and measures 178 by 24 stitches and is good for intermediate stitchers. 

Speaking a challah covers, there’s also this design from Sew Marie Studio, worked in a single color. The pattern is 197 by 301 stitches, which comes out to 14 by 21.5 inches, or 35.7 by 55 cm, on 14 count fabric (sizes for other counts are given as well if you don’t need a cover that big). The designer recommends adding a fabric border as shown and includes instructions for how to do that. 

This kit to make an apple and honey coaster would be a great project to make for the holiday. It comes from Siman Kriaa and the kit includes perforated paperboard for stitching, thread, a needle, the chart and instructions in English and Hebrew. 

And because I love a good(?) pun, I couldn’t resist sharing this Shofar Sho Good pattern from The Kosher Stitcher. (The shofar is the ram’s horn that is blown through at Rosh Hashanah.) The deisgn uses five colors and measures 60 by 37 stitches, which comes out to 4.3 by 2.6 inches, or 10.9 by 6.7 cm on 14 count fabric.