There’s more than one way to hold a needle, and the technique you use affects everything from speed to the neatness of the back of your work. This guide pulls together everything on the site about actual cross stitch technique, not fabric or thread, but the stitching itself.
Every post tagged below covers some part of this topic, newest first. If you want a specific answer right away, start with the sections below.
Backstitch is what gives a finished piece its detail, and railroading is one of those techniques that divides stitchers into strong camps.
It’s time to improve your backstitch game is worth reading whatever your skill level. If you’ve heard the term but aren’t sure what it means, why is it called railroading anyway explains it, and whether you should bother with railroading helps you decide if it’s worth adding to your own stitching.
Blending threads and gridding your fabric are two techniques that look intimidating from the outside but make a real difference to accuracy once you’ve got the hang of them.
The cross stitch blending guide covers mixing thread colors for shading effects, and cross stitch gridding techniques walks through the different ways to keep large patterns on track.
How you stitch affects more than just the finished piece, it affects your body too, especially on longer projects.
How to cross stitch faster covers the habits that actually save time, and how to cross stitch without getting a sore back is worth reading before your next long stitching session, not after.
Technique doesn’t just affect how a piece looks now, it affects how well it holds up over time.
How to cross stitch something that will last 100 years covers the stitching choices that matter most for a piece you want to last.
Backstitch is often the thing at the end of a cross stitch, and whilst you know it can make a big difference, you've not really thought any further than that, right? Well, it turns out that whilst backstitch is super simple, there's a lot you can do to improve it. The smallest of changes in…
Gridding isn't often talked about in cross stitch, its often seen as an 'if you want to' kind of task, however, gridding is actually one of the best things you can do. Simply put, counted cross stitch requires (you guessed it) counting. The time you take to count can not only be massive, but you…
Railroading is a term used in cross stitch a lot. For some it means the hell of trying to do the technique, for others, it means the height of perfect stitches. However, whenever I've asked about the name, everyone gave me the same answer. Until I finally researched it myself and found out they were…
I regularly get asked how I can cross stitch so fast, and whilst it probably has a lot to do with how many hours I stitch in, there are various ways to speed up your cross stitching. We'll start off with some different techniques to try, before going into some tips for speeding up your…