Cross stitches

This article is about the cross-shaped stitches. For the embroidery style called cross-stitch or counted cross stitch, see Cross-stitch.
Detail of cross stitch embroidery from Sweden.
Cross stitch sampler with alphabets, crowns, and coronets, 1760
Cross stitch in canvas work

Cross stitches in embroidery, needlepoint, and other forms of needlework include a number of related stitches in which the thread is sewn in an x or + shape. Cross stitch has been called "probably the most widely used stitch of all"[1] and is part of the needlework traditions of the Balkans, Middle East, Afghanistan, Colonial America and Victorian England.

  1. ^ Gillow, John, and Bryan Sentance: World Textiles, Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown, 1999, ISBN 0-8212-2621-5, p. 181