This is a question we hear quite a lot about. Everyone has their favorite fabric, and a lot of newcoming stitchers are curious about how to stitch using evenweaves and linens, especially when it comes to more detailed projects to stitch with a lot of quarter and three-quarter stitching. We’ve put together this quick tutorial for stitching “over two”. I hope it helps you out with your cross stitching. Click more to for full tutorial….

Stitching Over Two on Evenweave or Linen
by Loretta Oliver

Cross stitching on linen or evenweave fabrics might be intimidating to someone that has only stitched on aida cloth before. But, I assure you that it’s not as hard as one might think. Infact, in most cases it’s easier, especially when it comes to quarter and three-quarter stitches that give a piece detail and finished edges to a design, or to add turns inside borders.

Here are few illustrations to help you out with your first “over two” project. Over two basically means over two threads of the fabric. If you were stitching on aida cloth, you would be stitching “over one”.

	This diagram is your unstitched fabric. We’re preparing to make the first full cross stitch. The yellow dots represent the unused holes in our cross stitch, the grey lines the fabric threads. The blue dots represent one leg of the cross, the green dots represent the other. Which you connect first will depend on which direction you are stitching. For this example we’ll be going left to right, and back again to complete the cross stitch.
	This is to illustrate the first leg of the cross stitch, as stitching from left to right. If you’re a right to left stitcher you would connect the green dots for your first leg. Don’t worry, you will not be able to see the center hole after your stitch is completely crossed.
	And here’s the second leg of your full cross stitch stitched “over two” on evenweave or linen fabric. I hope you enjoy your new found fabric. If you have any further questions or need help with something please visit our Stitching the Night Away Message Board and ask our stitchers.
	This diagram is your unstitched fabric. We’re preparing to make a quarter cross stitch. The yellow dots represent the unused holes in our cross stitch, the grey lines the fabric threads. The blue dots represent one leg of the cross, the green dots represent the other. Which you connect first will depend on which direction you are stitching. For this example we’ll be going left to right, and back again to complete the cross stitch. This is with the “quarter” in the bottom left corner of the X.
	Here is leg one of our quarter stitch, showing the “quarter” at the lower left position. Of course it won’t always be in this position, so you would stitch it in which ever corner of the X it belongs in. I think you’ll find placement of a quarter stitch on evenweave much easier than on aida cloth, because there’s a hole exactly where you need to go through the fabric with your evenweave. If you were stitching on aida you’d possibly pierce the threads be off center. Quarter stitches also tend to lay more smooth on evenweaves and linens.
	And here is our finished quarter-cross stitch on evenweave or linen fabric. Now, that wasn’t so bad was it? Nah, I didn’t think it would be. I hope you enjoy using these types of fabrics for your stitching. Of course there is no right or wrong fabric, use whatever you are most comfortable stitching with. If you need help or want to share a project visit our Cross Stitching Message Boards.

Happy Stitches everybody!

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