How to start a Cross Stitch

Your beautiful kit has arrived, your threads are sorted, your hoop is ready, and now you're looking at your chart wondering exactly where to begin! Don't worry, this is one of the most common questions from new stitchers, and the answer is simpler than you might think. Here's how to find your starting point and get going with confidence.

What You'll Need

• Your Aida fabric
• Your cross stitch chart
• A needle and a scrap of thread
• A ruler
• A pencil or biro
• An iron and ironing board
• An embroidery hoop

Step 1: Find the Centre of Your Aida

Before anything else, you need to find the very centre of your Aida fabric. To do this, fold your fabric in half and give it a press, then fold it in half again and press once more. When you open it back out, you'll be able to see the point where the two fold lines cross, and that is your centre point.

To make sure you don't lose track of it, take a scrap of thread and place a tiny loose stitch right at that centre point. You don't need to knot or secure it in any way as it's just a temporary marker that you'll remove later. Once that's in place, give your Aida a gentle press with the iron to remove the fold lines, and then pop it into your hoop.

Step 2: Check the Orientation of Your Pattern

Before you start matching up your centre points, it's worth taking a moment to check the orientation of your design. If your pattern is square, it doesn't matter which way round your Aida sits in the hoop. However, if your pattern is landscape or portrait in shape, you'll want to make sure your Aida is hooped up the correct way to match. Getting this right now saves a lot of head-scratching later!

Step 3: Find the Centre of Your Pattern

Now it's time to find the centre point on your chart. Most cross stitch patterns helpfully mark this for you with small arrows or dots along the top and side edges of the chart. These indicate the halfway point on each axis, and by following them inwards until they meet, you'll find the very centre of your design.

Use a ruler to follow the vertical line down from the marker at the top of your chart, and then follow the horizontal line across from the marker on the side. Where the two lines meet is your centre stitch. Mark it lightly with a pencil or biro so you can find it easily. Using pencil means you can rub it out afterwards if you'd like to keep the chart pristine, though if you plan to use the same chart again it's rather handy to have it already marked!

Step 4: Match Your Two Centre Points

You now have a centre point marked on your Aida with that small temporary stitch, and a centre point marked on your pattern. These two points need to correspond with each other, and once they do, you're ready to begin stitching.

Remove the temporary thread marker from your Aida, look at your pattern to identify what colour thread the centre stitch should be, and make that your very first cross stitch. Everything else in the design will then build outwards from that central point.

Step 5: Plan Your Starting Row (Optional)

Some stitchers prefer to work in neat rows rather than building outwards from the centre, and that's absolutely fine! If you'd rather start at the beginning of a row, simply use the centre point as your reference and count upwards on both the pattern and the Aida to find where the top row of stitching begins. From there you can stitch across in a straight line and work your way down through the design row by row.

You're Ready to Stitch!

Finding your centre point is one of those things that feels a little fiddly the very first time, but quickly becomes second nature. Taking this small amount of care at the start ensures your design sits perfectly centred on your fabric, which makes for a beautifully balanced finished piece.

Happy Stitching!