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What materials do you need for cross stitch

If you are new to cross stitch you might wonder what are the best supplies for cross stitch? what are the essential things you need for cross stitch and what are handy extra’s to have? What size needle do I need for my cross stitch fabric? In this blog we explain the basic materials you need to cross stitch.

What materials do you need for cross stitching

6 Essential things you need for cross stitch

1. Cross Stitch Fabric

Most cross stitch projects are made on Aida or Evenweave Linen fabric.

For beginners we recommend to start stitching on a white Aida 14 count cross stitch cloth. This is the most commonly used embroidery fabric.

For children and people with difficult eye sight, we advise to use White Aida 6 count cross stitch fabric. As the grid on this fabric is about 2,4 times larger then a 14 count fabric, it is very easy to see the holes. Using Aida 6 count fabric will blow up your pattern, so ensure you get a large enough piece.

With some experience you can move from Aida to linen fabric, this will give your fabric a finer end result. Read this blog with our tips for stitching on linen fabric, and learn all about the different types of cross stitch fabrics here.

Cross stitch fabrics

2. A Cross Stitch Pattern

From Toucan’s to maps and engineers, in our shop you can choose from hundreds of modern cross stitch designs. We design with beginners and intermediate stitchers in mind. The smaller the pattern, and the fewer the colors, the easier to make. You can see all our patterns here. And we also share a few free patterns on our blog.

Cross Stitch Patterns

3. An Embroidery Needle

Protect your fingers and use a needle with a blunt end if you’re working on aida or evenweave fabric. Unless it’s Halloween, we like to avoid blood stains ;-). Our DIY kits always include one or more blunt ending embroidery needle that matches the count of your fabric. In the table you can see what needle sizes is best for which count fabric.

Get yourself a full set of embroidery needles here

For cross stitch you typically use a tapestry needle with a blunt eye. Only when you have to make a lot of fractional stitches on Aida, consider using a needle with a sharp end instead.

Embroidery Needle gift set glass tube embroidery needles set

What size needle do I need for cross stitch?

Fabric count Needle Size
Perforated Leather Size 14
Aida 6 count Size 18
Aida 8 count Size 20
Aida 11 count Size 22
Aida 14 count Size 24
Aida 16 count Size 24
Aida 18 count Size 24
Aida 20 count Size 26
Linen 28 count Size 26
Linen 32 count Size 26

4. Embroidery floss

Embroidery floss comes in dazzling number of colors and qualities. Spend your money wisely and buy high quality yarn that does not loose color when washed. We sell DMC mouline, glow in the dark, etoile and metallic floss here in our shop.

Etoile cross stitch floss

5. Embroidery scissors

With sharp and short blades, embroidery scissors are ideal for cutting your floss without hurting your fabric. Becuase of the short blade you are often allowed to bring them with  you on the plane. But if you want to be sure, you can also opt to travel with a nail cutter.

You can find different types of scissors here in our shop.

Embroidery scissors

6. Embroidery Hoop

We love to use a hoop while cross stitching. The hoop helps to keep the fabric streched and makes it easier to make perfect square stitches.

After we finish stitching we frame our work directly in the hoop. That is also why we put a hoop in most of our DIY kits.

We recommend to use a hoop between 4-8 inch (10-20 cm) when stitching. With a larger hoop it is more difficult to keep your fabric tight. You can find different sizes of hoops here in our shop.

embroidery hoops

What extra tools make it easier to cross stitch

Bees Wax

Bees Wax

4,90 (4,05 excl. VAT)Add to cart

Great for when you are using glow in the dark, etoile or metalic embroidery floss.

Hoop standard

Embroidery hoop seat frame

59,95 (49,55 excl. VAT)Add to cart

Stitch with two hands and clamp your hoop in a frame.

Needle threader

Metal needle threader

1,50 (1,24 excl. VAT)Add to cart

Make your life easy and use these handy tools to get embroidery floss easily into your needle.

Felt

When framing our finished piece in an embroidery hoop, we use felt to hide the ugly stitches on the back. We explain in this tutorial how to frame your work in a hoop.

A Project Bag

A project bag to keep all your materials together.

Cross Stitch Supplies

In our webshop you can find premium cross stitch supplies.  Where possible we buy ecological supplies produced in Europe. Buying from us means you not only support our small business but also the livehoods of the families that work for our suppliers.

We use these supplies ourselves when stitching, and love to share our selection with you. Below you will find the latest cross stitch supplies in our shop.

See the full collection here.

More cross stitch tutorials

2021-11-26T10:29:13+01:00

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