The aim of this post is to highlight the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of the diverse fabrics we are able to cross stitch on.
Let me start with the beginners. The best fabric for them to start stitching on is aida, especially those fabrics which have less holes in an inch. But in case you have ever tried some other craft, do not use the 6-8 HPI (hole per inch) ones which are specially made for small children to start with. It is good when you start to stitch to have a nice and more or less quick result. So please start with a greater number holes, eg. 14 HPI aida.
You can stitch to aida equal x stitches onto aida and you won’t face any problems either in the case of French knots or simple backstitches. Since the holes you have to push the needle through are a bit bigger than the other parts of the fabric it is easier for most of the stitchers to count the colours.
But if the design contains more half-stitches, quarter-stitches or it is full of very precise backstitches it is worth considering the usage of evenweave base for the stitching. Even from this type of material you can choose a lazy or a thicker one. But you always have to take care about using two holes for counting the height and width of the cross stitches.
My opinion is that designs showing more details are neater on evenweave and it is easier to stitch backstitches into this material as I mentioned in my previous post.
You can choose between cotton and linen evenweaves. The linen one has a more natural look but it is harder to stitch on it. The cotton evenweave’s holes are regular while the linen one could have some differences in the distances between the lines. I suggest stitching natural designs onto linen evenweave.
DMC – one of the major thread-producers – also has linen threads too. This type’s thickness is not as constant as the cotton one’s. The stitches looks more natural with these threads. I suggest stitching onto linen – especially with linen threads – only for advanced stitchers since it is harder than stitching with cotton threads onto cotton evenweaves or to aida fabric.
I have stiteched several pictures on aida, like this one, but I prefer to stitch to evenweave nowadays. You can see one of these ones via this link.
I have stitched these black tulips to linen evenweave using cotton threads, while I have already stitched a whole serial with DMC linen threads to linen evenweave. You can check them out here.
What is your favourite fabric? What kind of material do you like to use? Have you ever tried these alternative fabrics? Are you interested in finding out what other kinds of stitching base I have used till now?
Please share your opinion with me!
M.I.Eszter
