Hi, I am interested in making custom photo cross stitching on something that has the width of 4 inches wide. I only want to use a fabric either 14 or 16 in size. When I import a photograph and pattern it for that size, depending on the photograph, many times it appears blurry or not defined and only becomes more defined the higher the number of fabric. Does anyone have any advice as to how to get a small photograph scaled down for a 14 or 16 cloth count that will still maintain its details? I really appreciate any help. Thanks.
The key to a design is NOT the size of the fabric but the number of stitches. For the clearest picture, you need to determine the number of stitches to be used first and size your photo accordingly. For a width of 4 inches you want your design width to be 56 (14 count) or 64 (16 count) stitches. That is rather small and you are not likely to get much detail in that amount of stitches. Your photo needs to be very simple and sized to a width of 56 or 64 Pixels wide (and similar for the height - which you did not specify).
Remember that a photo is made up of hundreds of thousands of pixels possibly and you are trying to replicate pixels by stitches. You cannot possibly completely duplicate the situation, just approximate it. Even the best design will look better from a distance rather than up close where it is bound to be at least somewhat "pixelated".
Scaling down a photo for a small cross stitch
Posted - 03/05/2010 : 00:19:54
