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Cross-stitch design size calculator

How large a chart comes out on a given fabric, and how much cloth to cut so there is something left to frame it by.

Chart into finished size

Threads or blocks per inch, as the fabric is sold: 14 for 14 aida, 28 for 28 count linen.

Bare cloth on each edge, to lace or staple over. Five centimetres a side is the usual advice; a hoop wants more.

Frame first: how much chart fits

A mount overlaps the stitching. Whatever it covers is subtracted here, on both sides of each dimension.

How this is worked out

Count is the number of threads — or, on aida, of woven blocks — in one inch of cloth. On aida a stitch takes one block, so the count is also the number of stitches per inch. On evenweave and linen a stitch is normally worked over two threads, so 28 count linen stitches at fourteen: the same size as 14 aida, which is the answer to most of the questions this page is asked.

The stitched area is the chart in stitches divided by the stitches per inch. The cloth to cut adds the margin twice to each dimension, because a margin is on both sides. Inches are converted at 2.54 cm exactly.

Two numbers this page cannot know for you: fractional and three-quarter stitches do not change the size, but a border of backstitch beyond the last cross does; and fabric relaxes and shifts as it is worked, so a margin cut to the millimetre is a margin you will wish were larger.