---
title: "Cross-stitch"
description: "Cross-stitch is a counted-thread embroidery in which X-shaped stitches are worked over the threads of an even-weave fabric to build up a design."
type: Glossary
url: https://teazle.art/glossary/cross-stitch
published: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-14
author: "The Teazle editors"
---

# Cross-stitch

*Cross-stitch is a counted-thread embroidery in which X-shaped stitches are worked over the threads of an even-weave fabric to build up a design.*

In cross-stitch, each X fills one square of the fabric grid, so the design is read from a chart like a picture in pixels, the same principle as a [filet crochet](https://teazle.art/glossary/filet-crochet.md) chart. It was the stitch of samplers, on which girls practised alphabets and motifs.


## Sources

1. [Cross-stitch (AAT 300264030)](http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300264030). Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus
2. [Cross-stitch (Q18282)](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18282). Wikidata

Canonical: https://teazle.art/glossary/cross-stitch