Stitching 101 - Back Stitch and Fractional Stitches

In THIS POST I have given the basics of cross stitch! Now let's become a pro and learn Back Stitch and Fractional stitches!

Backstitch

Back stitch is usually marked on your pattern as a straight line and is usually worked from the right to the left using one thread unless differently specified in your pattern.

To start, bring your needle up at 1 and back down at 2.

cross stitch guide

 

Move left and bring needle up at 3 and back down at 1. Then up at 4 and back down at 3. Go on in this way since your line is complete.

cross stitch guide

It was easy, uh?

Lets' get into something a little bit more difficult!

 

 

FRACTIONAL STITCHES - 1/4 and 3/4 stitches

Half stitch is usually marked in your pattern as an half colored square or as a little symbol in a corner of the square

 

SIMPLE 3/4 STITCH

 

cross stitch guide

 

You can find this kind of stitch at the end of a stitched area.

That means that if you imagine your square divided in half diagonally, you will have one half with the stitch and one half with just the fabric.

To make an three quarters stitch:
Make a tiny diagonal stitch (1/2 of a normal half stitch) from the corner of the square to the center of the square (step 1-2).

Then make a normal diagonal between the other two corners (step 3-4).

cross stitch guide

 

 

 3/4 STITCH and 1/4 STITCH

 

cross stitch guide

To make a two colors square:
Make a tiny diagonal stitch (1/2 of a normal half stitch) from the corner of the square to the center of the square (step 1-2) with the first color.

Complete the square with a 3/4 stitch of the other color following the previous tutorial.
Please note: the color used to make the 3/4 stitch is usually the “main” color, so if you are stitching an object on a background, you will use the background color for the quarter stitch and the object color for the 3/4 stitch. If you’re stitching a mouth on a face you will use the face color for the quarter stitch and the mouth color for the 3/4 one.

cross stitch guide

Voilà!

You can find all the stitching 101 posts here or you can download them in PDF on our Guides Page

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