[HNW] stitch count of Mary's cruciform cross-stitch designs

[Chris Laning]

On Jun 23, 2010, at 4:16 PM, Carol Thomas wrote:

> I pulled out a book with a photograph and counted stitches sideways  
> and up and down.  It does appear to be evenweave.
>
> No information on stitches per inch, though.


I think all you'd really need was the dimensions of one cruciform  
piece: then it's just a matter of arithmetic. The V&A collection pages  
should have that.

As for the background material, it's really two questions:

(1) Was it "evenweave" in the sense of being the same number of  
threads to the inch in warp and weft (apparently so); and

(2) How closely did the fabric resemble what we today call "evenweave  
linen"? Or will it be more like what we would call "needlepoint  
canvas"? It would be helpful to know the thread diameters and spacing,  
since fabric at a given number of threads per inch can have, for  
instance, 10 thick threads tightly packed per inch, 10 thin threads  
spaced far apart, or anything in between.  It may also be worth  
checking whether it's actually linen, or perhaps hemp or something  
else. (Though linen is certainly what I'd expect.)

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O    Chris Laning <claning at igc.org> - Davis, California
+     http://paternoster-row.org - http://paternosters.blogspot.com
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