28 count cross stitch paper
The linen substitution everybody makes. Twenty-eight over two is fourteen stitches to the inch, so a 14 count chart lands at exactly the same size.
This is the swap that gets a stitcher off Aida. Twenty-eight threads to the inch worked over two is 14 stitches to the inch, which is the stitch size of 14 count Aida exactly. Take a kit chart, put it on 28 count, and it finishes at the same 7.14 inches (181 mm) per 100 stitches — no recalculation, no new frame, a completely different looking piece.
Cashel is the linen one, with the irregular slubs that people either love or spend the project fighting. Jobelan and Brittney are blends: more even, softer, and far more forgiving of a first attempt. All three are 28 count and all three stitch at 14 to the inch, so the choice is about handling and nothing else.
The habit to unlearn is aiming. There is no block here, so the needle goes between threads that you have counted rather than into a hole you can see. Two strands and a size 26 needle, a tacked grid every ten threads to start, and the first hour is slower than Aida and every hour after that is not. Over one thread instead of two gives twenty-eight stitches to the inch, which is what people use for a face or a line of small lettering inside an over-two design.
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
- 18 count cross stitch paper18 stitches per inch · 1.41 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
- 32 count cross stitch paper16 stitches per inch · 1.59 mm squares
Questions
Can I stitch a 14 count chart on 28 count linen?
Yes, and it will finish at exactly the same size, because 28 threads worked over two is fourteen stitches to the inch. This is the single most useful piece of arithmetic in the hobby and the one that catches people out when they order fabric.
What is over one, and when would I use it?
Over one means each stitch spans a single thread rather than a pair, so 28 count gives twenty-eight stitches to the inch instead of 14. It is used in patches inside an over-two piece — faces, small lettering, anything that needs detail the main grid cannot hold — rather than for a whole design.
Which 28 count should I buy first?
A blend. Jobelan and Brittney are woven far more evenly than linen, so a miscount is easier to spot and a slub never pushes a stitch out of line. Cashel linen has the look most people are after, and it is a kinder second purchase than a first.
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.
