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Reversed cross stitch icon
Reversed cross stitch

Reversed cross stitch main image

This canvaswork stitch consists of two styles of cross stitches worked on top of each other, to form an eight pointed star.

Diagonal lines of cross stitches are worked, alternating between vertical and diagonal crosses.  Each cross is then overlaid with a cross of the alternate orientation in a finer (sometimes gold) thread (the diagonal cross stitch is overlaid with a vertical one and vice versa).

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Crossed Filling Canvaswork

Reversed Cross Stitch is generously sponsored by Jennifer Kundi for her mother Patrine Kundi

Method

The second layer is often worked in a contrasting colour or metallic thread.
It does not matter which stitch is uppermost for each style of cross stitch, as long as they are consistent.

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Reversed cross stitch method stage 1 illustration
Reversed cross stitch method stage 1 photograph
1

Start by stitching a diagonal row of cross stitches, each over two threads of the canvas.

Cross stitch
Reversed cross stitch method stage 2 illustration
Reversed cross stitch method stage 2 photograph
2

Adjacent to this, a row of upright straight crosses should be worked, again over two theads.

Upright cross stitch
Reversed cross stitch method stage 3 illustration
Reversed cross stitch method stage 3 photograph
3

Continue working across the area to cover the canvas ground, alternating between rows of diagonal cross stitches and upright straight cross stitches.

Reversed cross stitch method stage 4 illustration
Reversed cross stitch method stage 4 photograph
4

Each cross stitch is then embellished with a second layer of cross stitches in a finer thread, each at the alternate angle from the one it covers.

Reversed cross stitch

Structure of stitch

Crossed

Common uses

Filling

Embroidery Techniques

Canvaswork

Related Stitches

Double cross stitch Cross stitch Upright cross stitch

References

  • Mary Thomas’s Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches (1934) , p.67