Cross - stitch is a form of sewing and a popular form of counted-thread embroidery in which X-shaped stitches in a tiled, raster- like pattern are used to form a picture. The stitcher counts the threads on a piece of evenweave fabric (such as linen ) in each direction so that the stitches are of uniform size and appearance. This form of cross - stitch is also called counted cross - stitch in order to distinguish it from other forms of cross - stitch. Sometimes cross - stitch is done on designs printed on the fabric (stamped cross - stitch ); the stitcher simply stitches over the printed pattern. Cross - stitch is also executed on easily countable fabric called aida cloth but the threads are not actually counted.
Fabrics used in cross - stitch include linen, aida, and mixed-content fabrics called 'evenweave' such as jobelan. All cross - stitch fabrics are technically "evenweave" as the term refers to the fact that the fabric is woven to make sure that there are the same number of threads in an inch both left to right and top to bottom (vertically and horizontally). Fabrics are categorized by threads per inch (referred to as 'count'), which can range from 11 to 40 count. Aida fabric has a lower count because it is made with two threads grouped together for ease of stitching. Cross - stitch projects are worked from a gridded pattern and can be used on any count fabric, the count of the fabric determines the size of the finished stitching if the stitchers counts and stitches over 2 threads.
