• What do I get in one of your chart packages?
  
• Do you have a sample of your chart package?
  
• Your charts are only A$5.00, why so cheap? How come they are all the same price, regardless of size or complexity?
  
• How does the chart get to me?
  
• What type of fabric should I use?
  
• What range of floss (stranded cotton) do you recommend?
  
• Do you sell the fabric and floss as well?
  
• Can I pay by cheque or money order?
  
• I don't have a credit card. Can I pay any other way?
  
• Why doesn't the PayPal shopping cart work properly in FireFox?
  
• If I don't want to buy the design on-line, is there anywhere else I can purchase it?
  
• How do I print out the chart? Will I need any special software?
  
• How many times can the chart be printed?
  
• Are the designs copyright?
  
• I do not have a colour printer. How do I avoid printing out the colour chart pages?
  
• My eyesight is not good and I would like to photocopy and enlarge the chart. May I do so?
  
• Is it possible to suggest a pattern? Can I get a design custom-made?
  
• Can you convert photographs to cross stitch charts?
  
• Do you sell charts created by other cross stitch designers?
  

The package consists of

• cover page, showing how the design will look;
• specific instructions for the design,
  including recommended thread amounts and methods of working;
• general instructions for working cross stitch;
• tips for successful stitching;
• black-and-white symbol chart also with key to colours; and
• full colour chart with overlaid symbols plus key to colours.

I decided to become a truly online merchant, to allow my charts to be purchased and received immediatley, at any time, anywhere in the world.

When determining the price, I realised that I wanted your purchase decision to be based simply on the desire to stitch my charts.

The time and effort to convert an existing chart design to a PDF is much the same, regardless of the chart's size or complexity. Therefore, the price is the same for all my designs.

Once payment has been completed with the PayPal servers, the Payloadz sytem presents you with a special download link, which is also sent to the email address you gave during checkout. Click here to see an example of the download screen from Payloadz.

You can also use the Order Lookup System to retrieve the download. The download link is active for 48 hours after you place the order.*

After this period, or if you accidentally delete the download before printing it, you will need to contact me directly. I will forward the replacement download to you by normal email.

*Note: The Payloadz system tracks downloads by individual transactions, expires the link after 48 hours, limits download link clicks, and monitors downloading IP addresses to prevent excessive downloading of the file.

The suggested fabric for all the designs is 14 hpi ecru AIDA, the defacto standard for cross stitch, except where indicated. Of course, you can work a counted cross stitch design on whatever fabric you wish, in whichever colour you fancy. And, of course, you can change the colours in the design to suit the stash of floss that you have.

Remember, if you do change the fabric count, the stitched size will also change. The instructions give the finished sizes for fabric counts of 14, 16, 18 and 22. You will need to add the framing allowance to this size to calculate the size of the piece of fabric you will need.

There should be no need to recalculate the amount of thread required as the higher fabric counts should use less floss than what is recommended for 14 count.

All my designs are created using the DMC floss standard. Your craft shop should be able to help you with substitution from a different colour range. I have an approximate equivalents table which can be downloaded: It is in PDF format, the same as the charts themselves.

No, I do not sell materials, nor do the designs come as kits. Many of you will already have some of the materials required and are therefore wasting money buying a kit. Overseas customers can purchase materials at the wholesale price here in Australia.

No. The only acceptable method of payment is via Paypal, where your credit card transaction is processed securely. If you are a Paypal member, you can pay from your own account.

No. Using the Paypal system, and your credit card, is what allows you to purchase the chart and download it straight away.

Unfortunately, some versions of FireFox (version 2.0 and newer) do not properly process the "Continue Shopping" button on the PayPal shopping cart page. This is a problem with FireFox, not with PayPal nor with this website. To return to my website from the PayPal shopping cart, please manually bring my webpage to the top, by clicking on either its tab or its window icon.

Sorry for the inconvenience. Hopefully, FireFox will fix this problem in the near future.

No. This is the only place on-line and I don't sell the designs through shops.

All the designs are in PDF (portable document format) files, which are printable in many different operating systems.

You can also download and print out a test chart to see how the process works. Download sample chart 'right click' and select [Save Target As...] or [Save Link As...]

You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free program available from www.adobe.com, to open these files (download from button below).

The chart can be printed as many times as you like as long as it is for your own personal use. If you photocopy the chart or print it out for a friend, this is an infringement of copyright.

They are. This means that you may use the charts for your personal use only. You cannot print them for others or copy the PDF files for others. You cannot stitch the designs to sell the embroidery commercially nor can you digitize them on a sewing machine or similar device. You cannot sell copies of the pattern on ebay or elsewhere on the Internet or on the planet.

If you wish to make multiple stitched designs for sale for charitable reasons, please contact me for permission.

The price of the designs is deliberatly kept as low as possible to encourage your friends to buy their own copies, but I am not giving them away! Remember, paying the designer results in new designs.

The colour chart pages are the last pages in each PDF file. So, if you don't want to print them, go to the end of the file and move back through the coloured pages until you encounter the Stitching Hints page, which is the last of the black and white pages. Make a note of this page's number, which is in the bottom left of the screen.

In the print menu, enter the page range that you wish to print, making the "to" page the same number as you have noted above. If you do not want to print the colour cover page, start the print range from page 2.

No problem at all, please go right ahead. However, it would become a copyright infringement if you sold the resulting photocopy or even gave it to someone else. It must be solely for your personal use.

After fifteen years of making fully custom designs, I have stopped this service. However, I am interested in "keeping my hand in", so if you have an idea for a design which you can't find anywhere, please drop me a line. If the project appeals to me and I think that it is something I would like to add to the design range, I will create the design for you. This also goes for modifications or variants on existing designs.

Yes. There is separate section dedicated to this service. Just look on the main menu.

No, I don't sell anyone else's designs.

All designs copyright © Sarah L Ricketts. All rights reserved.