18 count cross stitch paper
The finest Aida sold. Eighteen blocks to the inch, 1.41 mm squares, and the count to use when the design has more detail in it than you have room for.
At eighteen blocks to the inch a square is 1.41 mm, which is roughly the width of a grain of rice. A 100-stitch design finishes 5.56 inches (141 mm), about 22 per cent down on 14 count, and that is the whole argument for the fabric: a portrait or a sampler with a lot of single stitches in it keeps its detail and still fits a frame you can hang.
It is also where the hobby stops being forgiving. The holes are small enough that a needle finds them by feel rather than by sight, and a mis-stitch is harder to see and harder to unpick. Good light is not optional, and most people who stitch here for long buy a lamp with a lens on it.
Coverage is the live argument. Two strands cover fully but crowd the hole and leave a slightly domed stitch; one strand lies flat and neat but lets the cloth show through on a dark fabric. Neither is wrong. Stitch a square inch of each on a scrap in the colour you are actually using, look at it in the light the finished piece will hang in, and pick from that. A size 26 needle suits both.
Cross stitch paper by count
- Cross stitch paper, any countThe full generator — any count from 6 to 40
- 11 count cross stitch paper11 stitches per inch · 2.31 mm squares
- 14 count cross stitch paper14 stitches per inch · 1.81 mm squares
- 16 count cross stitch paper16 stitches per inch · 1.59 mm squares
- 22 count cross stitch paper11 stitches per inch · 2.31 mm squares
- 25 count cross stitch paper12.5 stitches per inch · 2.03 mm squares
- 28 count cross stitch paper14 stitches per inch · 1.81 mm squares
- 32 count cross stitch paper16 stitches per inch · 1.59 mm squares
Questions
How much smaller is 18 count than 14 count?
About 22%. A design 100 stitches wide measures 7.14 inches on 14 count and 5.56 inches on 18 count.
One strand or two on 18 count?
Both are normal and the fabric decides. One strand gives a flat, fine stitch and suits pale cloth; two cover a dark cloth properly but sit high in the hole. Work a test square of each before you commit a whole project to one answer.
Does 18 count need magnification?
Many stitchers use it, and nobody needs it to start. A 1.41 mm square is legible in good directional light; what tires the eye is a dim room and a dark fabric together. A lamp helps more than a lens, and a lens on the lamp helps most.
Other tools
- Staff and tab paperBlank manuscript and tablature ruled to a staff height you can measure with a ruler, not to whatever the PDF you found happened to be.
- Beading graph paperCharting paper drawn from the bead's own measurements, so the beads on the page are the size of the beads in the tube.
- Cross stitch pattern paperCharting paper at the size your stitches will actually be, for the count of fabric you actually have.
- English paper piecing templatesPick a shape, type the side length you actually want, and print it at true size.
- Bubble answer sheet generatorScantron-style answer sheets, built to your question count.
- Blank clock facesClock faces with hands drawn where they genuinely belong — at 3:45 the hour hand sits three quarters of the way to four, because that is what a clock does.
- Blank periodic tableEvery blank periodic table online is a fixed image.
- Attendance sheet and gradebook gridsPaste twenty-eight names, choose a month, print.
- Printable graph paperAny spacing you like, in millimetres or inches, printed at true size.
- Printable dot grid paperDot paper at the spacing you actually use — 5 mm for a bullet journal, or whatever you type.
- Printable lined paperCollege ruled, wide ruled, or handwriting paper with a dashed midline — at the real spacings, not an approximation.
- Year in pixelsOne cell a day for a whole year, drawn for the year you name — so February is the right length and the months stop where they actually stop.
- Savings and goal colouring chartsType your goal and how many cells you want.
