FABRICS

Aida or linen: which fabric, how many strands and which needle?

Practical guide · 6 min read · updated on October 31, 2026

Your choice of fabric sets the size of your embroidery, the number of strands and the needle. Here’s how to read the count of an Aida or linen, and which guidelines help you cover the fabric well without distorting it.

What “14-count Aida” means

The number is the count : the number of stitches per inch (2.54 cm). On 14-count Aida, you stitch 14 crosses per inch, about 5.5 per centimeter. The higher the count, the smaller the stitches and the finer the design.

Aida, the fabric for beginners

Aida is woven in little squares separated by clearly visible holes: each square takes one cross, no thread counting needed. It commonly comes in 11, 14, 16, 18 and 20 count. 14-count Aida is the best seller and the easiest for a first chart.

Linen, stitched over 2

Linen (and evenweave) has a fine, regular weave with no squares. It’s most often stitched “over 2”: each cross covers two threads in width and height. So a 28-count linen gives 14 stitches per inch, the same size as 14-count Aida. In France, linen is often sold by the centimeter: a “12-thread linen” has 12 threads per centimeter, or 6 stitches per centimeter stitched over 2.

Stitched over 1, linen gives crosses half the size, for very fine designs.

Strand and needle guide, fabric by fabric

A tapestry needle has a blunt tip that slips through the holes without splitting the threads. The higher its number, the finer it is. On linen, use a slightly finer needle than on Aida of the same count: its holes are smaller.

How big will the embroidery be?

Divide the number of stitches by the count to get inches. A design 140 stitches wide measures 10 inches (25.4 cm) on 14-count Aida, and only 7.8 inches (19.8 cm) on 18-count. Add at least 2 inches (5 cm) of margin on each side for the fabric to cut, more if you plan to frame it.

The size and fabric to cut calculator does the conversion for every fabric, and needle and strand count uses the guidelines in this table. Fabric names are explained in the cross stitch glossary.