As promised, here's the first part of my cross stitch tutorial, this will allow you to practice your basic cross stitching before you move on to doing motifs (that will be on another tutorial).
To get started you must have a piece of Aida fabric. It doesn't have to be very big just enough to allow you to practice a few rows using the cross stitch.
Let's get started:
1 - Aida fabric tends to fray, so to prevent this use some sewing thread and apply some slanted stitches all the way around your piece of fabric. You can do this by hand or if you have a sewing machine with a zig-zag stitch you can use it and it's much quicker too.
Important: The needle for cross stitching must have a rounded point so it doesn't catch the fabric or the tread and is usually short with a large hole for threading.
2 - With step one finished you can start practicing your cross stitching. Take 2 or 3 strands of cross stitching thread and thread the needle.
3 - Start your first stitch as shown in this photo making sure you leave some length of thread loose on the right side of your work.
Remember:
Right side of your work -> stitches are done in a diagonal line
Wrong side of your work -> the needle only goes up or down in a vertical line
My stitches are going from bottom left to top right. At the same time, the end of the thread left loose is being nicely "tucked in" under the stitches.
4 - Keep going until you have a row of stitches and the end of the thread is completely hidden underneath these.
5 - To go up: your needle should be positioned as shown in this photo.
To go down: the needle should be pointing downwards.
6 - Keep going until you reach the end of that row and turn back. This time your stitches should go from top left to bottom right creating a perfect X . To finish, insert the needle under several of the cross stitches on the right side of your work and cut the remaining thread.
7 - This way you have a perfect right side and a neat wrong side.
I hope you find these instructions helpful.
One of my next tutorials will be on how to embroider a motif using the cross stitch.
Have fun 
