Guides

The questions that come up

Short, specific answers about thread, fabric and charts — the things worth knowing before you buy anything.

How to turn a photo into a cross-stitch pattern

What makes a photo work as a cross-stitch chart, what to fix before converting it, and what no converter can rescue.

What the count on a piece of Aida means, how it changes the finished size, and which one to buy for your eyes and your project.

Work out how much DMC floss a cross-stitch pattern needs, with a table by stitch count and the reason estimates run generous.

The trade-off between detail and hours, how many DMC colours different subjects actually need, and why more is not better.

Grid, symbols, legend and centre marks explained, plus how to start a chart in the right place and keep your place in it.

What DMC numbers mean, how the families are organised, what a dye lot is, and how patterns pick a thread for a colour.