Stitching 2 over 2 threads on cross stitch fabric.

Two over two stitching on linen.

Photos below

Have you ever heard of the term stitching 2 over 2? Most of you will probably answer  yes to this question, if you did you need to look away now because you may find this a little boring!  

I decided to do a tutorial on this subject because when I first started this blog and my cross stitching blog I stitched everything on Aida fabric, in fact I had not even attempted to stitch on evenweave  linen or cotton, and did not even know where to start. I tried to find a tutorial on the subject and I really struggled, I could not find one anywhere.  It seems so easy to do now, so second nature but so hard when you don't know how! 

Stitching 2 over 2 means that you will use 2 strands of embroidery and stitch over 2 threads of the fabric. I used  DMC stranded cotton for this design, in each stranded length there will be 6 strands, you only need 2 of those strands put together and threaded into your needle, hence the first part of 2 over 2, i.e. 2 strands of thread.           

There are various linen and cotton fabrics that you can buy from your local craft supplier or from the many suppliers over the internet, ranging from 8 count Aida fabric to 55 count cotton or linen evenweaves.  If you choose a 32 count evenweave linen  (i.e 32 vertical threads measured over 1 inch)  you will stitch 16 cross stitches to the inch because you are stitching over two threads. The higher the number of stitches per inch the smaller the stitches will be and therefore the smaller the finished cross stitch will be. I hope I explained that part ok! Let me know if you need help on this.  

My favourite out of all of the fabrics is 32 count Murano, I love the evenweave and the feel of this when I am stitching on it, my stitches always look neater when I have used Murano fabric, however, it is personal preference at the end of the day.

I did try many different fabrics before I could find one I really liked.

I stitched 2 threads over 2 threads on this Santa's Village design from Country Cottage Needleworks, there are 12 patterns, one to stitch every month from now until December. 

  

Each piece of fabric has strands of thread called the Warp and the Weft,  the Warp are the vertical strands and the Weft are the horizontal strands. If you are stitching 2 over 2 you will be stitching over two vertical strands and two horizontal strands to make your individual cross stitches. 

You can see the strands of the fabric in this close up photo below, this fabric is 32 count Permin Lambswool  linen, not one of my favourites,  but I purchased exactly what the pattern advised as I wanted it to be exactly the same as the pattern when finished.  

    

Can you see the vertical and horizontal threads now?

To make the stitch bring your needle up through the fabric in the bottom left side, the needle is poised ready to go into the fabric at the top right. Can you see the two vertical threads you have stitched over? Now pull your needle through to the back of the fabric.

You now need to count 2 threads from the left under the vertical threads and bring your needle up in the bottom right corner, you have nearly made your cross.  

Bring your thread over two threads into the top left hole, you will be inserting the thread through the same holes as the previous stitches. This is 2 over 2 stitching!

Can you see the line of stitching I have left without stitches at the bottom of Santa's Jacket?

You should see two horizontal threads running along, you will be able to stitch your 2 over 2 threads in this space, there will be 7 stitches alltogether.  

I hope all that made some sense!

Happy Stitching!