Many years ago, there were not very many choices in fabric for your cross stitch projects, linen and aida cloth and bleached or unbleached. Now the choices are endless, both in thread count and in colour of your fabric. The only limit is your imagination and your eyesight and experience.
The smaller the weave the harder it is to get it right, especially if you are a beginner cross stitcher. I find it is always good to start with something you can manage when you are a beginner, so that you are able to finish the project and have a sense of learning and accomplishment which will lead you on to harder and more complex projects as your skill level grows. If at first you don't succeed often leads to the project thrown in a box and forgotten about.
Embroidery fabrics usually fall into three basic categories, Common-weave, Even-weave, and Surface pattern.
The first, common weave fabrics, includes most tightly woven fabrics with a smooth surface. Fabrics such as linen Most standard free form embroidery (including crewel) are worked on common-weave fabrics. Experienced cross stitchers use linen to cross stitch with beautiful results, but it is a little more difficult and you should have some experience before trying this. Here are some examples of common weave fabrics.
The next category is Even-weave fabrics. This type of fabric is the most commonly used fabric for cross stitching and this is what we will be using as we continue in our journey through learning cross stitch in the following pages.
These fabrics are plain weaves with one difference: the number of threads per square inch is the same for both warp and weft. One type, the single even-weave is made from single strands of intersecting threads; the thread count can vary from a coarse 14 count to a very fine 32 count.
The favorite of cross stitchers, especially beginners is a fabric called Aida cloth, which is a fabric that consists of intersecting thread groups which produces a notable holes which helps the cross stitcher guide the stitches. The smaller the number of Aida cloth, the larger the spaces. A good count for a beginner stitcher is Aida Cloth 14 count, as it produces a nice result and is easy to see and work with.
Here are some examples of Even-weave fabric.
Fine Single Weave
Coarse Single Weave
Aida Cloth
The list of fabrics available for cross stitch changes daily and there are always exciting new weaves and fabrics and colors to try.
