You can turn your work and the chart upside down if you prefer to work towards you, but never turn halfway вЂ“ your stitches will end up facing the wrong way! Types of Charts Mistakes most often occur when counting across long sections of blank fabric. This sometimes means counting diagonally, vertically or horizontally across a pattern. If you count across the shortest distances of empty fabric each time you will avoid making counting mistakes. When looking at a chart, try to plan the direction in which you are going to stitch. If working a band sampler, work the tacking (basting) lines down either side of the first band вЂ“ to prevent your project wandering to right or left. To prevent serious counting errors, use a coloured pen to rule a line on the chart from arrow to arrow to find the centre and then add a line of tacking (basting) to the fabric. The count of a fabric (the number of stitches to 2.5cm or 1in) affects the size of a finished piece even when worked from the same chart. Find the middle by following the arrows, or counting the stitches left to right and top to bottom. Traditionally, cross stitchers begin to stitch from the middle of the chart and the middle of the fabric to ensure that the design is centred when it is mounted and framed. Each occupied square equals one stitch unless otherwise stated.Д¬ross stitch charts generally consist of whole squares representing complete cross stitches, but sometimes you will see additional stitches added indicating three-quarter cross stitches (sometimes called fractional stitches), French knots and so on. Each square on a chart, both occupied and unoccupied, represents two threads of linen or one block of Aida unless otherwise stated.

Horse cross stitch graph