Guides / Making your chart
Choosing the size of a cross-stitch chart
Too small and a chart loses its subject; too big and it never gets finished. The right width comes from three questions, asked in order.
A chart's width in stitches decides everything: the detail, the size on the wall, the number of evenings. Choose it in that order, starting from the subject.
One stitch is one pixel
Anything smaller than a stitch disappears. An eye two stitches wide loses its look.
A stitch is a pixel: the wider the chart, the more detail it holds, and the bigger the piece. To scale, on 14-count aida.- Find your subject's smallest essential detail.
- A heart has none: 25 stitches will do.
- For a cat it is the eyes and nose; for a face, the space between the eyes and the mouth.
60 px a chart 60 stitches wide: less than an app icon on your phone
How many stitches for which subject
Guidelines for the width; the height follows the picture's proportions.
- A chart from the gallery already has its width: all that is left is the fabric.
- Motifs stitch up in a few evenings: a good place to start.
| Subject | Suggested width | On 14-count aida |
|---|
| Letter, heart, small motif | 25 to 40 stitches | 4.5 to 7.3 cm |
| Single flower, animal silhouette | 40 to 60 stitches | 7.3 to 10.9 cm |
| Animal with its face and eyes | 70 to 100 stitches | 12.7 to 18.1 cm |
| Detailed pet portrait | 100 to 150 stitches | 18.1 to 27.2 cm |
| Human face | 120 stitches and up | 21.8 cm and up |
Tip. For a first piece, stay under 60 stitches wide. A piece that keeps moving gets finished; a 150-stitch one often ends up in a drawer.
Working back from the frame
Width wanted in centimetres × 5.5 = the number of stitches, on 14-count aida.
- Take a few off if the design should breathe under a mount.
- The fabric calculator works both ways, fabric to cut included.
- 80 stitches are 14.5 cm on 14-count and 11.3 cm on 18-count: see fabric and size.
110 stitches across for a 20 cm opening, on 14-count aida
Counting the evenings
About 350 stitches an hour at an easy pace, thread changes included.
- A chart with no background, only the subject stitched, goes much faster.
- The converter shows the exact stitch count: compare two widths.
× 4 the work when the width doubles: time follows the area
| Filled square | Stitches | Time | 2-hour evenings |
|---|
| 50 × 50 stitches | 2,500 | 7 h | 4 |
| 100 × 100 stitches | 10,000 | 29 h | 15 |
| 150 × 150 stitches | 22,500 | 65 h | 33 |
Colours follow the size
The smaller the chart, the fewer colours it can carry.
- ✓ 40 stitches and 6 threads: each colour makes a real area.
- ✗ 40 stitches and 15 threads: stray stitches, one square each.
Setting the width in the converter
In the converter, the “Stitches wide” slider runs from 20 to 200. The rest is in turning a photo into a chart.
The converter at work: the photo becomes a chart, width and colours are set, the threads to buy line up, then the chart is printed.- Try your photo at two or three widths: the chart redraws at once.
- Check its size and stitch count, under the chart.
- Keep the smallest width where the subject is still recognisable.
Tip. A tight crop is worth twenty extra stitches of width: prepare the photo before you convert it.