How to fix cross stitch mistakes

Stitchers call unpicking "frogging", because you rip it, rip it, rip it, and that sounds like a frog. Everyone does it. A miscount found early costs ten minutes; the same miscount found three colors later can cost an evening, so most of this guide is about finding mistakes quickly and taking them out without hurting the fabric.

Find where it went wrong first

Before you remove anything, count again from a spot you know is right: the center you started from (the chart reading page shows how to find it), the edge of a finished shape, or a distinctive stitch in another color. Count twice, ideally in a different direction the second time. It's common to find the stitching is right and you'd simply lost your place on the chart, or that the error starts a stitch or two further back than you thought.

Then decide how far back you really need to go. Often only one color is wrong. A whole area rarely needs to come out.

Unpicking a few stitches

If you notice right away and the needle is still threaded, you can unstitch. Take the needle back through the hole the thread is coming out of, from the front or the back as needed, and undo the stitches in reverse order. Nothing gets cut and you don't have to rethread.

For more than a couple of stitches, unthread the needle. Slide the needle tip under the last leg you made, ease it loose and pull gently from the front, one leg at a time. A pin works too. Pulling from the front is faster than working from the back, and you're less likely to snag the threads of neighboring stitches.

Taking out a larger area

When a block of stitches has to go, or you can't find the end of the thread, cut. Use small, sharp, pointed embroidery scissors: snip the top legs on the front, then pull the loosened bits out from the front with the needle or tweezers. Lift each stitch slightly away from the fabric with the needle before you cut it. A cut fabric thread is a much bigger repair than a wrong stitch.

This is easiest on 14 count Aida or evenweave over two, where there's room to get the blades under a stitch. On 18 count, go slower and cut fewer stitches at a time.

A seam ripper works as well. Use the sharp inner edge to cut, not the ball, and keep it pointed along the surface rather than down into the fabric.

Cleaning up afterward

Unpicking leaves fuzz: tiny bits of floss caught in the holes. Pick them out with tweezers, or press a piece of tape or a lint roller lightly over the area. Fluff left behind in a hole can tint the new stitch, especially when you're replacing a dark color with a light one.

The holes may look stretched. Rub the area gently with a fingernail or massage it between your fingers to coax the threads back. Whatever is left usually evens out when the finished piece is washed.

Short tails left by frogging need securing. Stitch over them as you work the area again, or weave them under nearby stitches on the back.

Floss you've pulled out is often fuzzy and kinked. If a long piece still looks smooth, it's fine to use again. If it looks worn, start a fresh length, since it won't match the sheen of the stitches around it.

When to leave it alone

Nobody looks at a finished piece with the chart in their hand. In a textured area like foliage, fur, clouds or a busy background, a stitch out of place usually can't be seen. You can adjust the stitches around it so the shapes still read correctly, and carry on.

A shift of one square is the classic case. Stitch the correct pattern in the area around the mistake, boxing it in so it can't spread, and blend the edge.

Some errors do need to come out. Geometric borders, lettering, symmetric motifs and anything that's meant to line up with something else will show a one-square mistake every time you look at it. If a border won't meet at the corner, it's better to unpick now than to finish it and regret it.

For a single stitch in the wrong color, some stitchers simply stitch the right color over the top. It adds bulk and the old color can peek through, so keep it for one or two stitches, not a patch.

Mistakes that aren't miscounts

Top legs going the wrong way

Every cross should finish with its top leg slanting the same way. A few backward stitches catch the light differently and show as a patch. Unpick the cross and restitch it with the legs in the right order.

Puckering

Stitches pulled too tight draw the fabric in and make it ripple. The aim is stitches just snug enough to lie flat. Finishing tails pulled too tight can dimple the front too; the starting and finishing page covers tails. A slight ripple often relaxes after washing and pressing. Stitches pulled hard enough to distort the weave need to come out and be redone more gently.

Twisted, knotting floss

Floss twists a little with each stitch. Every so often, let the needle hang free so the thread untwists, and keep to lengths of about 18 inches. Longer lengths twist and tangle more.

Dark thread showing through

A dark thread carried across the back of an area that stays unstitched can show through, especially on light or loosely woven linen. Keep jumps short, roughly half an inch to an inch at most, and don't carry across bare fabric at all. To fix one that's already there, snip the carried thread in the middle on the back and weave each end under nearby stitches of the same color.

Hoop marks and creases

A hoop left on for long stretches between sessions can damage the fabric, so take it off when you stop for the day. Creases and light hoop marks usually come out when the finished piece is washed and pressed face down between two towels with a warm iron, using steam on stubborn creases. The finishing and framing guide goes through washing step by step.

Marks, stains and colors that run

If you gridded your fabric or marked the center with a pen, check what kind it was. Heat-erasable pens can leave pale ghost marks, and the ink can reappear if the fabric gets very cold (below about 14°F). With water-soluble pens, rinse the marks out in plain water before anything else: the maker of one widely sold pen warns against ironing over the marks or laundering the fabric until they're completely gone.

DMC's washing guide says to rinse in cold water until the water runs clear, and to stop washing if the rinse water turns colored.

Running out of floss

Buy the same color number and compare the new skein with the old one in daylight. Floss from different dye batches can differ slightly. If you can see a difference, start the new skein at a natural edge, like the boundary of a shape or a row where the color changes, rather than in the middle of a solid area. The floss calculator helps you buy enough of each color up front next time.

Habits that prevent the next one

• Mark off stitches on a printed copy of the chart with a highlighter as you finish them.
• Baste a grid of contrasting thread into the fabric to match the heavier grid lines on the chart, and pull it out when you're done.
• Put a pin in the fabric where a long row of counting starts, so you don't lose your place when you look up.
• Stitch next to stitches you've already made instead of jumping to empty fabric, so every new area has a landmark to count from.

If you design your own patterns, Craft Studio's Check panel flags isolated single stitches, unused colors and empty edges. Lone stitches are easy to skip when you're stitching, and much easier to deal with on screen than on fabric. The printable PDF uses symbols with a floss key, which makes similar shades far harder to mix up than color alone.