When you first start out with cross stitch, you probably will work from charts that only include symbols that cover the whole square, meaning that the stitches you’re working are full cross stitches.
But as time goes on you might pick up some slightly more complicated patterns that include things like partial stitches, back stitching and French knots depicted on the charts.
Cross stitch patterns often assume that you know what they mean, and that you only need a key for the colors not what kind of stitch you’re making.
Crewel Ghoul has a really well illustrated post about common cross stitch symbols and what they mean. So if you ever see a symbol that’s just in the corner of a square, or a dot that’s on top of the lines instead of a square, or even lines drawn over other stitching, you’ll know what to do.
Check out the post over at Crewel Ghoul for all the details. It’s also worth checking out this post on how to stitch partial stitches, which includes a diagram of what the different kinds of stitches look like. (It doesn’t include a French knot but you probably already know what that looks like.)
Like a lot of techniques in crafting, understanding how to read cross stitch charts and what the symbols are trying to tell you actually makes sense once you understand the basics.
Backstitch looks like lines because that’s what the stitching looks like. Same with three-quarter stitches, because they fill half the box like the little triangle on the chart (they’re three quarter stitches because one line goes all the way across like a normal stitch and one goes from the corner to the center, so it’s like stitching three quarters of a whole cross stitch).
All this to say if you’ve encountered a chart with these strange looking symbols, don’t think it’s too hard for you! Just take it stitch by stitch and have fun. And know there are lots of people you can ask for help if you need it.
[Photo: Crewel Ghoul]
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