Every House of Needelier PDF follows the same layout, so once you know one pattern you know them all.
The pages in your PDF
- Cover – the finished design, its stitch count, the number of colors, total stitches, skill level and the finished size on 14, 16 and 18 count Aida and 28 count linen.
- Floss key – one row per color: the color swatch, its chart symbol, the DMC number and name, how many stitches use it and an estimate of how many skeins you need. A “Done” box lets you tick off colors as you finish them.
- Color chart – the design in color, one square per cross stitch, with the symbol printed on each square.
- Black-and-white symbol chart – the same chart with symbols only. It prints perfectly on any home printer and you can color in or highlight squares as you stitch.
- Instructions – a short how-to and the licence.
Sets with many motifs (like our stamp, plate and cameo collections) also have a collection layout page showing how all the motifs fit together, and a positions table if you want to stitch the whole set on one piece of fabric.
Reading the grid
- One square on the chart is one cross stitch on your fabric.
- Bold lines every 10 squares make counting easy. Count in tens, then the rest.
- Arrows on the edges point to the center row and column – start there.
- Empty squares stay unstitched: the fabric shows through.
- On patterns that spread over several pages, a page map shows how the pages join, and each page repeats a strip of the neighbouring page in a faded tint so you can line them up.
Color or symbols?
Use whichever you prefer. Many stitchers keep the color chart open on a tablet to see the picture and print the black-and-white chart to mark off finished areas. Colors on a screen can look a little different from the real floss, so always go by the DMC number, not the screen color.
TipStitch one color in one area at a time. When you need to move more than 3–4 squares to the next spot of the same color, end the thread and start again – long jumps on the back can show through light fabric.