Brand newbie & without English speakers around me to ask!!!

Tips, Tricks & Techniques - anything to help fellow cross stitchers.

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frolicking-petal
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Brand newbie & without English speakers around me to ask!!!

Post by frolicking-petal »

Hi there everyone!!! I am currently visiting rural Cambodia and have bought a cross stitch kit as something new to try but I open it (and it is a 'Best Art' one) and it is all in Chinese!!!

I have been researching online and asking friends online (but no one I know does cross stitching) and I must be missing something really obvious - so forgive me for this probably ridiculously basic question -

I have attached some pictures and am wondering:
- If it says 'full stitch' at the top - does that mean a full 'X' cross stitch for all colours/sections over the entire piece of work? Or do the symbols simply represent a different kind of stitch for each one and if so, how do I know what symbol means what stitch? (been searching online for a 'key' but cannot find one!).
- Where it says '01' I'm guessing that correlates to the '01' on the printed picture/pattern on the fabric and then I use the 'symbol' to add the same colour in other areas of the picture (obviously smaller areas where '01' wouldn't be able to fit as it is only a few squares?) Or is '01' just another correlation to the colour floss to us (doubling up on the DMC reference)
- And for the colour patches printed on the bottom of the pattern/picture on the fabric for reference - it seems that most of them correlate to the floss colour attached to the 'chart' (the one with holes in it) under each section but some of the patches are printed stripey and are not the floss colour attached under the number. Does that mean I have to someone mix two colours as I have a large amount extra floss in a bag of various colours?

Sorry, this is quite difficult to explain online - thank you for taking the time to try to decipher it :)

It would be amazing if you could point me in the right direction as I really want to do this whilst I'm traveling around :) Have a great day!

/Users/MrManinin/Documents/Cross Stitch Key.jpg

Oh darn it!!! How do I add pics to this post? :P
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richardandtracy
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Re: Brand newbie & without English speakers around me to ask

Post by richardandtracy »

I think there is a post limit below which it won't allow images to be uploaded as attachments on this board.

To show an image, upload it to Photobucket or something similar, then using the 'Share' button a popup will appear with links in it. The [img] link is the one you want, bottom one of the four link types in photobucket. That will show the image in the post.

When it says 'Full Stitch', yes that does mean a full cross.
The chances are that the cross reference on the chart will show something like 01 as you said. In the kit there will be a thread organiser with 01 on it, and that will be the colour to use. If there is a lot of that type of colour, you may also find some full thread skeins in the kit, and the band around the middle of the skein will also say something like '01', or maybe repeat the chart symbol it applies to.

My first experience was a Chinese kit, and it had exactly the same type of cross referencing as you have mentioned.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Richard
http://www.chestnutpens.co.uk
Free Charting Program for PC's Info Zip Installation
frolicking-petal
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Re: Brand newbie & without English speakers around me to ask

Post by frolicking-petal »

Hi there Richard....thank you so much for your reply!!! So, it seems that the whole project will 'simply' be full crosses and I just need to read the colours/pattern (which is really good for my first one!) but just to be sure - here is the link to the photo I was talking about :) (Sorry, I'm just so nervous and really want to make sure of the instructions before 'going at it' and getting quite a bit into it and realising I did it wrong :P )

Image
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richardandtracy
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Re: Brand newbie & without English speakers around me to ask

Post by richardandtracy »

Sorry, can't see the image yet. There is a full thread on how to do it here: http://www.crossstitchforum.com/viewtop ... f=6&t=1027
What size is the image you are stitching? For my first I had no idea about the work involved, and went for a 300 x 240 picture. It was ... time consuming. Took me a year, and was as below.
Image

Regards,

Richard.
http://www.chestnutpens.co.uk
Free Charting Program for PC's Info Zip Installation
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Squirrel
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Re: Brand newbie & without English speakers around me to ask

Post by Squirrel »

:wave: Hi there "frolicking-petal" I just love your avatar name it conjours up some lovely pictures in the mind.

I hope you will soon get to enjoy your cross stitching, it is a wonderful craft/art to do and we are all addicted to it. :D

RICHARD - that finished picture you have done is AWESOME :whoop: :whoop:
Sally in Brisbane Australia

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Christmas Stocking from World of Cross Stitching mag. 262
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richardandtracy
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Re: Brand newbie & without English speakers around me to ask

Post by richardandtracy »

Squirrel,

Must admit I do like it, but it wasn't entirely the picture I wanted to stitch, just one that was available and not too twee. About half way through stitching it I started looking for image conversion software, found Ryijy Stitch Designer, and then wrote a little program to make up for Ryijy's deficiencies. That eventually morphed into my charting program.

Regards,

Richard.
http://www.chestnutpens.co.uk
Free Charting Program for PC's Info Zip Installation
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rcperryls
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Re: Brand newbie & without English speakers around me to ask

Post by rcperryls »

:wave: Hello and welcome to the forum from South Carolina! Sounds like you are doing some wonderful traveling and cross stitching can be a great pastime when you aren't seeing some fantastic sights. Richard's explanation made sense to me, and since I tend to stay away from kits, I don't think I can be too much help. Posting photos of your stitching is a great way to show us your progress. Looking forward to seeing them.

Carole
:)
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