Working out Fabric Quantities

This can be a bit confusing as the count of a fabric is the number of holes per inch whereas the fabric is sold by the metre! The best way is to first determine the size of the design in inches, then convert this to centimetres before adding a border all the way round.

Let’s take an example. You have a design which is 160 stitches across and 120 stitches high and you want to work it in 14-count Aida.

* First get the design size in inches by dividing the number of stitches in each dimension by the fabric count. Dividing 160 by 14 gives 11.43 and 120 by 14 gives 8.57 - for simplicity, we’ll round them both up to 12 x 9. That’s the design size in inches.

* Now, convert the design size from inches to centimetres. Do this by multiplying each dimension by 2.5 (not exact, but near enough!). Multiplying 12 by 2.5 gives 30 and 9 by 2.5 gives 22.5. Again, we’ll round up to whole numbers giving 30 x 23.

* Next, we need to add a border all the way round. At Cross Stitch Workshop, we add 8cm (about 3 inches) to each side, the top and the bottom. Do this by adding 16 to both the design width and height, this giving 46 x 39.

* Finally, we need to round each of these figures up to the next 5cm to get 50cm x 40cm; this is the size of fabric required.