How to Work Quarter Stitches in Cross Stitch

I have done a fair bit of smaller cross stitch pieces in my time (and I definitely have working something bigger as a goal for 2024!) but for the most part I’ve only worked projects with full cross stitches, backstitch and French knots. Of course I know other stitches aren’t necessarily harder, they just involve skills I haven’t actually tried yet.

Last year I wrote a piece sharing information about partial stitches in cross stitch, what they look like in a chart, and how to work them.

Then I found this post all about quarter stitch from Sirious Stitches, which is worth a read as a deep dive into how quarter stitches work and how to make them.

As you might guess from the name, a quarter stitch looks like you have stitched one quarter of a full cross stitch. So instead of working the full x, you’re only working half of one side of the x.

To do this you have to make your own hole in the center of the square and then work from there to whatever hole you need to finish the stitch.

The post linked above shows how to work a single quarter stitch, as well as a three-quarter stitch (one leg is normal and one is made like the quarter stitch), as well as the double quarter stitch and double three-quarter stitch. There’s also an option to combine a three-quarter stitch and a quarter stitch where the quarter is worked in a different color from the three-quarter part.

It’s all a little mind-boggling, but the post has good examples of what these different options look like in a chart and in your stitching, and why different methods might be preferred in different situations. This is pretty high-level stuff, but if you ever need to know how to do it you’ll be glad these terms are familiar to you.

Do you work projects with partial stitches or do you stick to whole stitches? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[Photo: Sirious Stitches]

Next Pattern:

How to Make French Knots

I recently wrote a post on my blog about using a stitchable journal cover and I mentioned that you can make your own stitched cover for a journal by using perforated paper instead of buying a stitchable notebook.

I have to admit, though, that I’ve never used perforated paper for cross stitch myself. I definitely want to because I think it would be great to use for bookmarks that don’t fray and have a little more stability, for example.

Sirious Stitches has us covered, though, because they did a deep dive into all things perforated cross stitch pattern that is worth the time to read through.

The post mentions that a lot of people use perforated paper for cross stitch because they buy an ornament kit that uses it. I’ve never seen these (or at least never noticed that that is what they were) but it’s a great idea to make small projects like ornaments in this way. It also talks about the pros and cons of using cross stitch paper, where to buy it and how to make your own.

Making it yourself is an awesome idea because if you already have a pattern in mind you can just make holes in your paper where you need stitches to be and leave the rest solid. This would be ideal for making greeting cards, for example.

In addition to kits and sheets you can often find the paper pre-cut into different shapes you can use to make your own designs, no real pattern required.

The post also includes tips and advice for how to stitch on perforated paper that you’ll want to check out before you try your first project.

I’m super intrigued by the idea of using perforated paper for cross stitch and will probably be trying it out soon. Have you used it before? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Check out the post over at Sirious Stitches for more information.

[Photo: Sirious Stitches]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?