Counting Cross stitch Material
By marie2052
@marie2052 (3691)
United States
August 1, 2011 1:24am CST
I have read through several of you that you are not sure what type of count on your material you have.
11ct 14ct and 18 ct are done with all 2 threads of floss over one square.
Doing 22ct 25ct and 28 ct The 22 and 25ct you will do one thread of floss over 1square.
Once you get to 28ct that will be equalto 14ct 2threads over 2squares. 32ct linen is usually linen the lines on linen will be irregular and a little harder to form your count, but if you can see the thread and holes as you would in aida you will have the same ease as the stiffer aida cloth.
Just get a ruler and place the ruler one inch on the material so you can then count the holes to show how many you have in matching your material to your piece
Remember the lower the number the larger your piece will turn out.
The higher the number the smaller your piece will be.
I hope I have helped with sizing this if there are any questions please ask.
In the meantime, enjoy learning.
3 people like this
4 responses
@BarBaraPrz (51811)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
1 Aug 11
Sounds simple enough, but you'd be surprised how many people can't even count!
2 people like this
@marie2052 (3691)
• United States
2 Aug 11
My mother did those stamped pillow cases. She made it look easy.
So when I got married and my mother in law was into a chicken theme I thought I would get this pattern and do it for her.
I was doing counted cross stitch and had no idea what I was in for.
that cloth that that stuff is stamped on is like sheet or pillowcase material. Every time I tried to work on that piece I bet I stuck my fingers at least 10 times before putting it down.
Needless to say now that I know the difference between counted and stamped, that stamped piece was thrown away. for me that was a stitching horror for my fingers.
1 person likes this
@cerebellum (3863)
• United States
1 Aug 11
Most of the pieces that I do are with 3 strands of floss. Some are two, but the majority is 3. What kind of count would that be?
@marie2052 (3691)
• United States
2 Aug 11
I think some of the older patterns tend to be different or maybe even kits from different countries.
But I really tried to reseach this when yahoo was big on groups and I ran a cross stitch group. And what I wrote for the discussion is the norm.
My girlfriend is doing 2 strands on 25ct.
I being the person I am asked her how she was going to get 8 strands of floss through one hole when you are putting the xxx next to each other. 25ct is always done on a very soft type material and me for one is not going to try to fit 8 strands of floss through one hole. You will notice as you cross stitch that you wind up doing that in each hole since you are doing up and down.
I also went on a group site of girls that were mainly working on 25ct and some had done just that and their material bunched up more (remember the cloth is softer than aida) and heavens forbid if you make a mistake and have to take the stitches out. With a softer material it would be harder and then putting them back in again will make the holes stretch. And these girls would throw the piece out and start on a larger count. YIKES!
As they say in cross stitch, whatever you are comfortable with for you is fine.
I just knew some of you had questions and thats what I have learned in all my stitching research.
Happy cross stitching girls!
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (51811)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
1 Aug 11
I've done 2 strands on 22-count... the end result tends to look more like beadwork.
2 people like this
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
6 Aug 11
Thanks for the lesson. I really don't understand why they use higher numbers for smaller size, but it seems to be that way for a lot of things like for IV needles at the hospital. Have a great weekend!!!
