Using cross stitch patterns as alpha patterns - thread lengths
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Osian
Skiller
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2 years, 1 month ago by Osian
I have found a few cross-stitch patterns that I really want to make as Alphas, as the patterns are pixelated this should be pretty simple...Does anyone have experience doing this and could possibly help with one issue I've come across? Ideally, I want to buy enough thread for the patterns I'm looking at in one go and I'm not sure how many skeins of different colours I might need. The patterns give thread lengths needed for cross stitch and sometimes the number of stitches for each thread, does anyone have any tips on how to translate this into the amount of thread needed if the patterns is made as an alpha? I saw an equation somewhere for working out bracelet thread lengths that suggested each knot would use about .38cm of thread which might help calculate when I have stitch numbers but they aren't always provided and some of the designs are big enough that counting them would take an inordinate amount of time so if there's a quick calculation that works as a rule of thumb I'd be really grateful! Apologies if this has been asked before, if it has please could I be pointed to the right thread Thank you! |
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halokiwi
Moderator
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2 years, 1 month ago by halokiwi
I would recommend making a test piece to check out how much string you need for a certain amount of knots. If you have the stitch count given, you can use that to calculate the amount of string needed. If you haven't, you could try estating the amounts of knots.I think this applies to alpha patterns in general, not just to cross stitch patterns that are used as alpha patterns. |
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Osian
Skiller
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2 years, 1 month ago by Osian
Thank you!I hadn't thought of a test patch, I love it when people see a simple solution like that 😁 I prefer that to relying on someone else's estimate! I had thought about looking at the lengths given for the pattern I have without a stitch count and see if I can use that to estimate the count and go from there, maybe pick a short length and a longer length and count those, I'm not too inclined to tally them all as the pattern is something like 76 x 78 so there are a lot 😅 |
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halokiwi
Moderator
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2 years, 1 month ago by halokiwi
If you are using an alpha pattern from braceletbook, the dimensions are the amount of rows and columns in the pattern, they don't refer to centimeters or inches or something like that 🙂
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Osian
Skiller
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2 years, 1 month ago by Osian
Sorry I wasn't clear with that comment was I I meant that the cross-stitch pattern I have that I want to make is 76 x 78 so will have 5928 knots when it's complete as an alpha, and the pattern has symbols to indicate different stitch colours but no easy way to count each symbol to tally the number of each colour. Unfortunately, as the pattern is a pdf and made partly from images I can't think of a way to use the search function to get the answer, so I'm trying to think of ways to approximate how much thread I'll use making it as an alpha compared to making it as a cross-stitch so that I can make sure I order enough! |
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Osian
Skiller
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2 years, 1 month ago by Osian
Just in case anyone else sees this and is faced with a similar issue...I found that exporting the PDF as a word document gave me the cleanest export (excel was really messy) and allowed me to muck about with it in a way that I could get the stitch (i.e. knot) numbers by using the search/find and replace tool)
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