Half and three-quarter stitches: how to stitch fractional stitches
A full cross covers the whole square. But on curves and in fine detail a square often has to be shared between two colours or covered only in part. That's what fractional stitches are for.
The kinds
- Half stitch — a single diagonal stitch across the square. It gives a light, see-through shading: shadows, sky, haze.
- Quarter stitch — a short stitch from a corner of the square to its centre.
- Three-quarter stitch — a half stitch plus a quarter. The square is split along the diagonal: one half is covered, the other is empty or given to another colour.
How they look on a chart
A half stitch is usually drawn as a diagonal line or a smaller symbol. A three-quarter stitch is a triangle filling half the square along the diagonal; if a square has two triangles in different colours, those are two three-quarter stitches in two threads. For how to read the symbols, see "How to read a chart".
How to stitch them
- Half stitch is worked like the first half of a normal cross, in the same direction as the bottom stitches of your other crosses.
- Quarter stitch goes from a corner to the centre. On evenweave the centre is a gap between threads, so the needle passes easily. Aida has no hole in the middle: pierce the fabric gently with the needle point in the centre of the square.
- Three-quarter stitch: make the quarter first, then the long half across the whole square — it holds the quarter down in the centre.
- Two colours in one square: stitch one three-quarter stitch first, then a quarter of the second colour in the other half. The long diagonal goes to the colour that matters more to the picture — usually the foreground.
Tips
- Fractional stitches are easier on evenweave, where each square has a hole in the centre. See "Fabric and count".
- Don't skip them: without them edges look stepped.
- Work them in the same session as the neighbouring full crosses of the same colour, so you don't have to come back later.
Where the app fits
In Crossette you mark half and three-quarter stitches on the chart just like full crosses — along with backstitch, French knots, beads and long stitches. For outlines, see "Backstitch in cross stitch".
About the author
This article was written by the Crossette team. We're building Crossette, a cross stitch tracker for iPhone and iPad. It's in development; to join the beta, see the Beta page.