How to Stitch Partial Stitches in Cross Stitch

When you are just starting out in cross stitch, it’s a great idea to stick to patterns that only use whole stitches. That means that you’ll be working a full and full-sized X, from one hole in the fabric diagonally across to the next, with another stitch in the opposite corners directly on top.

This is the first stitch you learn because it’s relatively easy as long as you can hit the holes and you don’t pull your thread too tight.

But as you progress in your cross stitch skills you may come across patterns with more details that include half stitches or even quarter stitches to add just a bit more detail without covering a full stitch.

As you might imagine from the name, a half cross stitch covers half of the square. It’s basically making the first part of a whole cross stitch and not making the part of the stitch that crosses over the first part. Stitching a bunch of half stitches in a row would give you a series of diagonal lines that look like ///.

If you work the half stitch and then add a short stitch that goes from the corner to the center of your half stitch, that’s know and a 3/4 stitch. If you worked just the short part, from the corner to the center of the square, that would be a 1/4 stitch.

These can be worked from any corner, but your pattern will show you where to put them.

It takes a little more precision to stitch right in the center of the square, even with the half stitch there to guide you, so these stitches are considered a little more advanced. You can practice them on waster fabric before you try them in a pattern if you want.

There’s a great guide to all these stitches and more from DMC, or if you like videos you can check out this one all about partial stitches form Notorious Needle.

[Photo: DMC.]

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I recently shared a review of the book Lit Stitch, and in the lengthy introductory materials there were a few paragraphs — enough to warrant their own heading — about how, or more accurately, whether, to fix mistakes in your cross stitch.

The conclusion was that for the most part no one will notice if, for instance, you stitch the wrong color for a stitch or two in a project that has many colors all worked together.

“No one else will notice” is used as reasoning for not fixing mistakes in knitting, crochet and other crafts, too, and I think that’s valid, as long as you also don’t notice.

If you know enough about yourself to know that every time you wear a sweater or look at a finished cross stitch project your eye will be drawn to that errant purl stitch or the extra stitch, by all means, fix it. Especially in cross stitch, if the mistake is minor, it shouldn’t take long to fix and you’ll feel a lot better about your project.

Of course, there are also times other people might notice a mistake. Say you’re stitching letters and you add an extra stitch or two on one side so now the letter doesn’t match the others. Again, easy fix to remove those extra stitches, so go ahead and do it while you can.

I also subscribe to the rule from the drama that anything that can’t be seen from the seats doesn’t matter on stage. Maybe in a house it’s the six-foot rule. Stand as far away from your piece as you think a person is likely to be close to it when it’s on display. If you can’t see any mistakes, there aren’t any mistakes.

I’d love to hear how you deal with mistakes in your cross-stitching, or if you consider them mistakes at all!

[Photo: y x from Pixabay]

Get the book here: Lit Stitch