Understanding your fabric is important in cross-stitching. Unlike embroidery, this craft uses “X” stitches to form the design. Because of this, it is crucial to know the fabric count or size of each cloth. Since the Aida cloth is the most common fabric, it is practical to get familiar with its fabric size. The size of your Aida cloth is its fabric count. You must keep in mind that the lower the fabric count, the bigger are the squares on the fabric grid. This is a crucial concept because it will help you to resize your design by using the right fabric count. The size or fabric count is the number of stitches per linear square. In simple terms, the fabric count is the number of “X” stitches per inch in the cloth. The Aida cloth has 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 22, and 28 fabric-count. To help you understand this, let’s take the14-count Aida fabric. This fabric count or size means that 14 “X” stitches fit in 1 inch of the fabric. Let’s take the 18-count Aida as another example. When you say 18-count, it means there are 18 “X” stitches in every inch of the fabric. In this instance, the weave grid or the squares in your fabric is smaller. Say you use the same design on 14-count and 18-count Aida. You will notice that the design on the 14-count looks bigger than that of the 18-count. This is because the grid or the squares in 14-count are bigger.