| Size | 61 × 11 stitches |
|---|---|
| Colours | 3 · DMC |
| Total stitches | 207 |
| Difficulty | Beginner (1/5) |
| Finished on 14-count | 4.4 × 0.8 in (11.1 × 2 cm) |
| Finished on 16-count | 3.8 × 0.7 in (9.7 × 1.7 cm) |
| Finished on 18-count | 3.4 × 0.6 in (8.6 × 1.6 cm) |
| Licence | CC BY-NC 4.0 — free for personal use with credit |
Materials
About this design
Borders are the quiet workhorses of cross stitch: a band like this can trim a hand towel, frame a sampler or turn a strip of Aida into a bookmark. The diamonds are drawn in single diagonal stitches of DMC 986 Forest Green Very Dark, which gives them a light, lattice-like look, and each one holds a small cross of 3712 Salmon Medium. Two full-width rules of 3011 Khaki Green Dark run along the top and bottom.
How to stitch it
Start with the lower rule, which gives you a straight baseline to count from. The diamonds sit 12 stitches apart, so once the first is in place the rest follow by counting along the rule. Each outline stitch touches the next only at a corner, so work them as a diagonal run: complete one full cross, then come up at the shared corner for the next. On light fabric, avoid carrying thread more than two or three stitches behind open fabric, because dark floss shows through. Add the coral centres last and finish with the top rule.
Using the band
On 14-count Aida the chart is about 4.4 inches long and 0.8 inches tall. To fit a towel, repeat the 12-stitch diamond unit as many times as you need and extend the rules to match; a 14-inch towel width needs about 16 diamonds. The 11-stitch height fits a ready-made Aida band about 3 cm wide, which you can stitch first and then sew onto a towel or a shelf edge.
Colour plan
DMC 3011 Khaki Green Dk does the most work, 59% of the 207 stitches, followed by DMC 986 Forest Green Vy Dk at 29%. Every colour is used at least 25 times, so there are no tiny one-off details to hunt for. 69% of the grid is left empty.
Working notes
60 squares stand alone in their colour, with no same-coloured neighbour along a side; stitch those as you pass rather than starting a new thread for each. The busiest row changes colour 30 times.
Anchor equivalents
The nearest Anchor colour for each DMC colour in this pattern, measured as ΔE 2000: up to 3 is very close, up to 6 close, up to 10 approximate.
This is an original CraftPatterns design, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0: stitch it, share it and gift what you make — please credit craftpatterns.app and don't sell the pattern itself. Want to change it? Open it in the cross stitch editor.
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