Creating a Needlepoint Plaid

chart on rainbow plaid, copyright Napa Needlepoint

This needlepoint instruction shows you how to adapt any plaid to stitching. Plaids are so easy to turn into needlepoint. All plaids, especially symmetrical ones, such as tartans, make wonderful needlepoint. First we’ll talk about plaids and how they are constructed, then we’ll cover how to turn that into needlepoint.

Before I learned the secret of plaids, I loved the needlepoint versions (seen in the 70’s) but never thought I’d be able to make them myself. With this needlepoint instruction, you won’t be in the dark and will know the method to translate any plaid you can see into great needlepoint.

tartan fabric, copyright unknown

Plaids are woven patterns of different colored stripes. Because of the way the stripes interact in the weave, we get the type of pattern we call plaid.

Plaids can be classified into two types. Most plaids you see are symmetrical, with both the horizontal and vertical stripes the same. The plaids pictured above are symmetrical plaids. A less common type of plaid is an asymmetrical plaid where one set of stripes is different from the other. Personal plaids, like my Birthday Plaid Mini-sock (available in Napa Needlepoint products), are asymmetrical.

Tartans are a particular type of symmetrical plaid and must be registered to be an official tartan. I love this site which has hundreds of tartans pictures and indexed by name.

The pattern of a plaid, particularly of a tartan is called a sett. It is defined as a sequence of stripes of a specific width in a specific color. I have even seen books which told the sett of different tartans.

The first step in this needlepoint instruction is to analyze the structure of the plaid.

Begin by determining if the plaid is symmetrical or asymmetrical. Symmetrical plaids have squares of solid color. Assymetrical plaids haverectangles of solid color.

If the plaid is symmetrical, as in the example below, you only need to figure out one set of stripes. If it is asymmetrical, you will need to do two, the vertical and horizontal.

Creating a Plaid

sample tartan plaid

You don’t need to have the sequence written out for you to figure it out. You can look at a plaid and learn the sett. We’ll use the plaid above for our sequence. Begin by writing down the colors. This plaid uses black, white, and red. Now find the narrowest stripe, and call that width one. This plaid has a sequence of narrow stripes white, black, red, black. Then there is a wider white stripe, then two narrow stripes and then a very wide black stripe before the pattern repeats.

It looks to me as if the wide white stripe is as wide as four narrow stripes, so that would make it four. The back stripe is twice as wide as this whole area, which would make it 20.

The whole plaid, starting from a narrow white stripe is:

1 white
1 black
1 red
1 black
4 white
1 black
1 white
20 black
And so on.

Now that you’ve analyzed the plaid it’s time to turn it into needlepoint. Remember that the plaid is created by weaving the stripes, creating an over-under pattern. We can mimic that in needlepoint by stitching every other stitch and making stripes, first in one direction, then in the other. I’ll use a simple 4 stitch wide stripe plaid to demonstrate.

vertical stripes of plaid, copyright Napa Needlepoint

Begin by making vertical stripes, and be sure to skip every other stitch. Your canvas will look like this, above.

horizontal stripes of plaid, copyright Napa Needlepoint

Now make the horizontal stripes, filling in the stitches you skipped. The above diagram shows only the horizontal stripes for clarity.

And magically the plaid appears!

chart of complete plaid, copyright Napa Needlepoint

Once you know the sequence you can make a plaid easily.

I bet you never thought that a needlepoint instruction on making plaids could change your needlepointing life.

If you don’t want to create the plaid yourself, or if you want a personalized plaid, I offer a Plaid and Tartan Charting Service which will provide you with colored charts and needlepoint instruction to stitch your own plaid. The service is available for tartans, any other plaid fabric where you have a picture, and for personal plaids (like the Birthday Plaid) where you can give me names or numbers. Contact me for pricing.

Quit Patterns

Inspire your stitching with the needlepoint instruction on adapting quilt blocks.

The clean geometry of patchwork quilt blocks is an unending source of inspiration for creating lovely needlepoint.With the most common patch shapes being squares and half-square triangles, there is so much you can do with stitch and stitch patterns which mimic fabric.

Begin by finding a block to adapt. Here are some sources, on-line and off.

Some classic books to use include Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Quilt Blocks and 5001 Quilt Block Designs by Maggie Malone.

There are some internet sites with big collections of pictured blocks

Quilt Blocks Galore – 60 pages of quilt blocks, with several indexes
McCall’s Quilting – small pictures you click on to get larger ones in popup frames

There are also some good directories of patterns on the Internet:
Block list at World Wide Quilting – lists quilt blocks in alphabetical order
Free Quilt Patterns – links to over 1100 sites Quilters are probably the most Internet-savvy of all fiber artists, so you will find many great ideas when you explore.
Pinterest – These days I’m finding tons of great blocks and inspiring quilts on this site. Put “quilt block” in the search box to get started.

As this page grows, there will be information on picking stitches, mimicking fabrics in needlepoint, borders, and settings.