How to read a needlepoint chart.

Recently, a customer ordered a Christmas Decorations needlepoint kit. Then a couple of weeks later she rang up to say she was a complete beginner and was having great difficulty making her stitching match the chart.  Normally, I say follow the printed canvas and use the chart only occasionally as a guide, but her problem went deeper than that.  She didn’t know how to stitch on canvas.  The chart confused her because she thought the grid represented the canvas threads.

It does look that way with vertical and horizontal lines and my instructions took it for granted that even a beginner would realise that one coloured square represents one stitch.

I did a little bit of stitching on a scrap of spare canvas, posted it off and she later rang to say now she could see exactly what to do.  I hope she has gone on to finish her little decorations and we have a new needlepoint devotee!

But all this got me thinking.  The ‘Friendly Instructions’ that go in all my kits and have drawn so many kind compliments did not address this fundamental problem.  I should make it clear that on the chart, one coloured square represents one stitch.  That has now been fixed!  It may take a while for future kits to filter through but this has never happened before so I hope we will be in time for the next one.