Cross Stitching by Machine
How many cross stitch charts do you have tucked away that you would really enjoy doing but either don’t have the time or, to be honest, the eyesight necessary to complete these projects by sitting and manually cross stitching each chart?
I know I have more charts than I can ever hope to finish in several lifetimes if I were to sit and cross stitch each chart.
However, with machine cross stitch, it is now quick and easy to complete charts of any size or count quickly and easily.
Some of my favourite charts are Paula Vaughn cross stitch charts. The upstairs sewing room picture is a Paula Vaughn chart and was done by machine with the Embird cross stitch module and, even with my largest hoop, was three hoopings, as the final size is 156 crosses wide by 160 crosses high and with a 14 count (1.8 mm) the finished size of the design was 11 inches by 8.5 inches.
When you are using standard machine embroidery for designs, shading is achieved by setting angles for the different areas of the design. However, with cross stitch shading is achieved by the blending of various colours of thread which define the depth or shading of the design.
Cross stitch can be in many sizes from the very small needlepoint designs to the larger 10 count cross stitch designs. The higher count in a design will create smaller crosses.
So don’t give up on cross stitch, with machine embroidery it is possible to finish a chart in a few hours or less. If you want to learn more about cross stitch by machine, I do have a tutorial “Creative Cross Stitch with Embird” that will start you on a wonderful journey of machine cross stitching.
When you begin a new cross stitch design there are some factors to take into consideration:
- Visualize the final size of the design in each count, and decide which size of the design will better fit your specific project. This should be the main reason for choosing between 10, 14, 16 or 18 count versions of the same design.
- If size of the design doesn’t make a big difference for your project, or if you have two possible options the following are suggestions for different types of cross stitch designs.
- Scenery designs – select 16 or 18 count, because designs featuring landscape scenes and people look nicer with more density. This is probably because our eyes start to look for details, which are more recognizable on dense, higher contrast designs.
- Floral, abstract, or lettering designs – 10, 14 or 16 count. The individual cross stitches can are clearly visible and the final design look more like traditional hand cross stitch.
- If your fabric is medium to heavy weight and you want it to be covered completely with stitches without any background fabric showing through, select 18 count. It will also look more like a regular embroidery design, and less like a cross-stitched design.
- For lightweight fabric, use 10 to 14 count because of its low density. If you are determined to use 16 or 18 counts design, avoid lightweight fabrics.
Perspective and depth with cross stitch
You can have very interesting effects by using one design in several count sizes.
This design has been digitized and embroidered in both a 10 and 14 count. As you can see, the positioning of designs, one after another, creates a feeling of perspective and depth, because our brain thinks that the smaller roses are a lot farther away than they really are.
Whenever you want to create a composition effect of perspective or depth, embroider the same design in two or more different cross sizes, keeping the larger count design closer to the line of vision.
As an example, on a napkin, the larger rose would be at the bottom edge of the napkin, as that is closer to your line of vision, with the smaller rose above or further away from your line of vision.
Click on the cross stitch roses picture above to download both a 10 and a 14 count rose design to embroider your own “perspective and depth” sample designs (the download will be at the bottom of the page).
Thread for Machine Cross Stitch
Machine cross-stitch designs embroider beautifully, using either polyester or rayon 40 weight thread, which is the type of thread used for most, if not all machine embroidery designs.
Cotton 30 weight thread is very effective with 10 to 14 count designs. However, on higher count designs it will be too dense and is not recommended. You can also change the number of times your crosses are embroidered within the software program to lessen the thickness of the thread.
Types of Fabric for Machine Cross Stitch
Linen, denim, and cotton/polyester blends are most often used with cross stitch designs. Avoid any stretch fabrics.
Stabilizing Cross-Stitch Designs
- Hoop your fabric with suitable stabilizer. If the fabric is very light, use no show cutaway fabrics such as polymesh. If the fabric is medium or heavy weight, use regular cutaway.
- Place thin water-soluble topping film over the fabric, if the fabric weave is not very dense, or has a tendency to absorb stitches. The topping will prevent this the stitches from sinking into the fabric and help the stitches stand out, rather than sinking into the fabric.
- Embroider the design, carefully removing jumps after each color stop.
Tip:
Avoid using tear-away with cross-stitch designs. When tearing them, especially on lower counts, you may damage the stitches and fabric. Cross-stitch designs usually aren’t dense enough for to successfully tear away the stabilizer.