How to read a cross stitch pattern
A chart is a map of the fabric. Once you know what one square means, the rest follows.
One square is one stitch
Each square on the chart stands for one square of aida, and one coloured square means one full cross stitch: an X made of two diagonal stitches. A blank square means leave the fabric bare.
The colour or symbol in a square tells you which floss to use. The key matches each symbol to a DMC shade number, so a ★ might be DMC 310 and a ● DMC 3865.
Colour charts and symbol charts
A colour chart is easiest to read on screen. A black and white symbol chart is easiest to print and to mark off, and it stays legible where two colours look alike. Our PDFs include both, so use whichever suits you.
The heavy grid lines
Every tenth line on the chart is drawn heavier. These are for counting: rather than counting 37 squares across, you count three blocks of ten and seven more.
Some stitchers tack a matching grid onto the fabric in a contrasting thread every ten squares and pull it out at the end. On a large chart it saves a lot of recounting.
Where to start
Most people start in the middle. Fold the fabric in half each way to find the centre, then find the centre of the chart, usually marked with arrows on its edges. Starting there keeps the design centred with an even margin all round.
Work outward one colour at a time in a small area, rather than finishing one colour across the whole design. You will count from stitches already made, which is far more reliable than counting across empty fabric.
Keeping your place
Mark off squares as you stitch them, with a highlighter on a printed copy or in a chart app on a tablet. Big charts are split across several pages, so note which page joins which before you start.
Make all your top stitches lean the same way. It is the single thing that makes finished work look neat.
