Cross Stitch Pattern Maker

The complete guide

How to make a cross stitch pattern: the complete guide

Everything this cross stitch pattern maker does, why it does it that way, and how to get a chart you’ll enjoy stitching, from choosing a photo to marking the last stitch.

What a cross stitch pattern maker does

A cross stitch pattern (or chart) is a grid in which every square stands for one cross-shaped stitch on fabric, and every colour or symbol stands for one thread. Counted cross stitch is worked by reading the grid and counting squares on an evenly woven fabric such as Aida.

A cross stitch pattern maker is a tool that produces those grids for you. This one does five jobs, all inside your browser:

1. Converts photos and pixel art into a grid of stitches with a limited set of colours.
2. Sets text in stitch alphabets for names, initials and phrases.
3. Edits any chart: draw, fill, select, recolour, check for scattered stitches.
4. Prints a clean multi-page PDF with a symbol key and counts.
5. Tracks the stitches you’ve finished, saved on your device.

People also call this kind of tool a cross stitch pattern generator or a cross stitch designer. The difference is mostly emphasis: a generator suggests automatic conversion; a designer suggests drawing and editing. Good results need both, which is why every chart you make here opens in an editor rather than ending as a fixed image. If you are curious about the limits of automation, read what automatic pattern generators can and can’t do.

Three ways to make a pattern

You can combine them. Convert a photo of a house, then paste a family name underneath; or stitch a free pattern and add initials in the corner. Everything ends up as the same kind of editable chart. For planning a one-off piece from scratch, see how to design a custom cross stitch pattern, and for a repeatable process, the cross stitch designer workflow.

From photo to pattern, step by step

Converting a photo is the most popular way to make a custom cross stitch pattern, and the one where small decisions matter most.

1. Pick a photo that will stitch clearly: one subject, soft light, a plain background. A detailed checklist is in how to choose a photo that will stitch clearly.
2. Crop tightly. Every stitch spent on background is detail taken from the subject. Rotation from phone cameras is applied once by your browser.
3. Choose the width. Start with 60 (small), 100 (medium) or 150 (large) stitches; the height follows the proportions.
4. Limit colours. 10–16 is a sensible start for photos. The tool tells you both your maximum and the number it actually used.
5. Remove the background by marking its colour as “no stitch”, so bare fabric shows around the subject.
6. Open it in the Studio, run the Stitchability Check, fix eyes and edges by hand, and export.

Under the hood, the converter averages the photo into the grid, groups similar colours in a perceptual colour space (so groups match what your eye sees), and maps each stitch to the nearest group. It is deterministic: the same photo and settings give the same chart every time. The full walkthrough, with every setting explained, is in how to turn a photo into a cross stitch pattern.

Size, fabric count and materials

A chart has no physical size until you choose a fabric. Fabric count is the number of stitches per inch: 14-count Aida gives 14 stitches per inch. So:

finished size = stitches ÷ count  ·  140 stitches on 14-count = 10 inches (25.4 cm)

Add unstitched fabric around the design for hooping and framing; 3 inches (7–8 cm) on every side is a common allowance. Evenweave and linen are usually stitched over two threads, so 28-count evenweave behaves like 14-count Aida. The Studio’s Project panel calculates stitched size and fabric size in inches and centimetres for 11, 14, 16, 18 or any custom count, and every PDF prints them on its first page. Read understanding Aida count and finished design size for evenweave, “over one” and resizing.

For materials, a reliable starting combination is 14-count Aida, two strands of six-strand cotton floss and a size 24 tapestry needle. Coarser fabric takes more strands, finer fabric fewer. The full table and coverage test are in choosing fabric, thread and needles.

Colours, symbols and thread

Every colour in a chart gets a symbol, a small shape printed in each square. Symbols let you follow a chart in poor light, on a black-and-white printout, or if you see colours differently. This pattern maker uses 51 distinct vector shapes, so every active colour has its own symbol, and they stay distinguishable in grayscale.

Colours start as honest RGB values with plain names (“Forest Green”, “Light Peach”). Next to each one the tools show the nearest DMC floss, found by perceived colour difference across all 489 DMC reference colours, and you can snap the whole palette to DMC in one step (colours that land on the same thread are merged, so the key never lists one skein twice). The match is labelled approximate on purpose: screens emit light, thread reflects it, and two colours can match under one lamp and not another. Use the codes to shop, then check key colours against a real shade card in daylight. The reasons are explained in why screen colours and embroidery floss look different.

In the Studio’s Colours panel you can rename any colour (names print in the key), change it, swap its symbol, merge it into another colour, remove unused colours, or turn a colour into “no stitch” to drop a background. Every change updates the grid, the symbols and the stitch counts, and every change can be undone.

Making a chart easy to stitch

Automatic conversion tends to scatter single stitches of one colour among others: stitchers call this confetti. Each isolated stitch may mean starting and finishing a thread for one cross. A few are part of the picture; hundreds make a project tedious.

The Stitchability Check measures this openly. It counts your stitches, the colours actually used, and how many connected regions each colour forms (stitches connected edge to edge). It then finds isolated groups, regions of one or two stitches by default, and highlights them on the chart.

• Protect deliberate details (an eye highlight, the dot of an i) by selecting them.
• Preview the cleanup: each unprotected isolated group is merged into the neighbouring colour it touches most, and you see exactly which squares change.
• Apply it, or discard it. It can be undone later like any edit.
• If the problem is too many similar shades, Reduce colours merges the most similar pair repeatedly and lists every merge first.

There is no invented “quality score” and no promised completion time, just the numbers and a short explanation. The method is covered in how to reduce confetti stitches without losing detail. If you are new to stitching, start with designs that have few isolated stitches; our guide to choosing a manageable beginner project lists the criteria.

Names, letters and alphabets

Text needs a different approach from photos. Computer fonts shrunk onto a coarse grid lose strokes and turn curves lumpy, so the cross stitch text generator uses stitch alphabets, drawn square by square and stored as editable data:

Type several lines, align them, adjust letter and line spacing, add a border (single, double, dashed or geometric) and ornaments such as a heart, star or leaf, then open the result in the Studio. All three alphabets include accented letters (é, ü, ñ, ç, å, ø, ß, ł, ő, ş and many more), so names from most European languages stitch correctly. Characters an alphabet can’t stitch are named in a warning instead of silently disappearing. Browse every glyph on the cross stitch alphabet page, and read how to make a cross stitch name pattern and how to choose cross stitch lettering and fonts.

Pixel art and hand-drawn designs

Pixel art is already a grid, so a good converter should change nothing but the format. Pixel art mode samples the exact centre of each pixel instead of averaging, keeps the original colours, detects sprites that were saved enlarged, and turns transparent pixels into bare fabric. Details are in pixel art to cross stitch: keeping edges sharp.

If you prefer drawing, print cross stitch graph paper at the square size you like, sketch with pencils, then redraw in a blank Studio grid to get symbols and counts. See how to use cross stitch graph paper to design by hand.

Printing your chart

A chart is only useful if it prints well. Exports are vector PDFs (sharp at any zoom) in US Letter or A4, portrait or landscape, with four square sizes. A PDF contains:

1. an overview page with the whole design, finished size, fabric size and a map showing which page covers which area;
2. a key with each symbol, colour, name, DMC code, stitch count and estimated skeins;
3. chart pages with numbered bold lines every ten stitches, centre arrows, page numbers, a mini location map, and a couple of shaded overlap rows so pages line up.

Choose colour with symbols, black-and-white symbols (ideal for mono printers), or colour blocks. Print at Actual size / 100%. You can also download a PNG of the chart, a PNG of the simulated stitched look (clearly a simulation, not a photo), or a JSON project file as a backup. See how to print a multi-page cross stitch chart and how to read a cross stitch chart and its symbols.

Stitching and tracking progress

Once you start stitching, the cross stitch tracker keeps your place. Tap single stitches, whole rows or dragged areas; choose one colour to dim the rest and mark only that colour; switch to a calm focus mode with no navigation and no ads. Progress is the number of finished stitches divided by all stitches, so empty squares never count and it can’t pass 100%.

Progress and projects are saved in your browser on your device, automatically and in small transactions; the indicator says “Saved on this device” only after the browser confirms. This is not a cloud backup: clearing site data removes it, so download a project file now and then. If you later edit the chart in a way that changes which squares are stitched, you choose between editing a copy and restarting progress, and old progress is never laid over a different chart. For technique, see how to track cross stitch progress in your browser and how to start and finish a thread without knots.

Free patterns and licensing

The free cross stitch patterns here were designed for this site: 43 designs covering flowers and fruit, animals and birds, seasons and celebrations from Christmas, Halloween and Easter to Ramadan and Eid, Diwali and the Lunar New Year, plus lettered samplers, a landscape and a mandala. Each page shows the chart, a stitched-look preview, the key with counts, finished sizes on four fabric counts and the number of isolated groups, and lets you download a PDF, edit the design or start tracking. They’re licensed CC BY 4.0, so you can stitch, gift and sell finished pieces. Start with the easy patterns for beginners or the small cross stitch patterns, which list exact sizes.

When you use free patterns from anywhere, check the chart, the key and the licence first; how to judge free cross stitch patterns has a checklist. And for quick projects, small cross stitch patterns: sizes, ideas and finishing covers cards, ornaments, magnets and bookmarks.

Patterns you create from your own photos and words are yours; we never receive them. Images that belong to someone else, including characters and logos, keep their owners’ rights.

Worked example: tulips, start to finish

To show what the decisions above look like in practice, here is the tulip photo used in the film at the top of this page, converted with the real engine. Nothing in these numbers is invented; you can reproduce them with the “Red tulips” sample in the photo converter.

1. Source. A licensed photo of red tulips on a white background: one subject, strong contrast, plain background. A good candidate by every test in the photo checklist.
2. Size. 80 stitches wide. The photo’s proportions give 114 stitches tall. On 14-count Aida that is about 5.7 × 8.1 inches (14.5 × 20.7 cm) of stitching; with 3-inch margins you would cut roughly 11.7 × 14.1 inches of fabric.
3. Colours. A 12-colour limit. The converter uses reds from deep crimson to pink highlights, several greens for stems and leaves, and near-whites for the background.
4. Background. The near-white colours are set to “no stitch”, so the flowers sit on bare fabric. That removes thousands of white stitches that would add hours without adding anything to the picture.
5. Check. The Stitchability Check shows where shading between two reds produced scattered single stitches. Cleanup merges most of them into the neighbouring red; the tiny yellow-green stamens are protected first so they survive.
6. Print. On US Letter with standard 3.2 mm squares, the chart splits across a handful of pages, preceded by the overview with its page map and the colour key with stitch counts.

The same photo at 64 stitches with an 8-colour limit, the version shown in the film above, is simpler: it keeps the shapes of the five blooms but loses some petal shading. Neither is “right”; one is a weekend project, the other a richer piece. That trade-off, size and colours against time and detail, is the core decision in every photo pattern.

Choosing threads: DMC codes and skeins

Most cross stitch charts are written for DMC six-strand floss, the most widely stocked embroidery cotton, so a DMC code is the easiest thing to take to a shop. Every tool on this site shows the nearest DMC colour next to each chart colour. “Nearest” is a measured idea: the chart colour and all 489 DMC reference colours are compared in a perceptual colour space, and the thread with the smallest difference wins. The tools label the result as a close, fair or loose match, so you know which suggestions to double-check.

Three ways to get DMC codes into a chart

1. In the photo converter: tick “Use DMC thread colours”. Every colour is replaced by its nearest DMC reference colour, and colours that land on the same thread are merged, so the key never lists one skein twice.
2. In the Studio’s Threads tab: preview the same snap for any chart (including text and library patterns), see the merges it would make, then apply it as one undoable step.
3. One colour at a time: in the Colours tab, pick from the three nearest suggestions or search the whole range by number (“310”) or name (“moss green”). Use this for colours that matter most, such as skin tones and eyes.

How many skeins?

The Threads tab, the PDF key and the size calculator estimate skeins from the real stitch count. The method is simple and printed beside every figure: a full cross uses about 4.8 times the width of one square of thread per strand (two diagonals on the front, two short passes on the back), plus a quarter for starting, ending and travelling, multiplied by your strands and divided into standard 8-metre skeins. On 14-count with two strands that is roughly 2,200 crosses per skein. Buy all the skeins for a large background at once, plus a spare, so the dye lot matches.

The shopping list downloads as a CSV file that opens in any spreadsheet, with symbol, colour name, DMC code, stitches, metres and skeins per colour. Browse every DMC colour, grouped by family, on the DMC colour chart, which also finds the nearest thread for any colour or hex code. DMC is a trademark of its owner; this site is independent and not affiliated.

Planning a project: size, time and materials

Before you print anything, a five-minute plan prevents most disappointments.

1. Decide where it will live

A card, a 4-inch hoop, an 8 × 10 frame and a cushion front need very different sizes. Measure the space, subtract room for a border or mount, and convert to stitches by multiplying inches by your fabric count. An 8 × 10 frame with a mat opening of about 6.5 × 8.5 inches holds roughly 91 × 119 stitches on 14-count.

2. Estimate the effort honestly

Total stitches is the best single measure of effort, and the Studio and every PDF state it exactly. Stitching speed varies enormously between people and between charts: large single-colour areas go quickly, confetti-heavy areas slowly. Rather than trusting any formula, time yourself on the first 100 stitches of your chart and multiply. That gives you a personal estimate no website can.

Photo patterns with a removed background have fewer stitches than the full rectangle; the chart’s own count is the one to trust.

3. Gather materials

• Fabric cut to the stitched size plus margins on all sides.
• Thread in every colour of the key. The key lists stitches per colour, the nearest DMC code and an estimated number of skeins for your fabric and strands. Treat the skein figure as a minimum for large colours, because tension and waste vary.
• Needle: a blunt tapestry needle sized to the fabric.
• Hoop or frame, small scissors, and something to mark your progress.

4. Prepare the chart

If you bought a different thread than the one suggested, set that DMC code on the colour in the Studio (search by number or name), so the printed key matches your stash. If two threads look too alike, change one symbol to something very different. Then print, or open the chart in the tracker on a tablet.

Portraits of people and pets

Portraits are the most rewarding photo patterns and the least forgiving, because we notice tiny changes in a familiar face. A few choices make most of the difference.

• Give the face enough stitches. A recognisable face needs roughly 50–70 stitches across the face itself, not the whole picture. For a head-and-shoulders portrait that usually means 100–150 stitches wide. A pet’s face is more forgiving; 80–100 often works.
• Choose soft, even light. Window light from the side gives gentle shading that converts into a few smooth steps. Flash and harsh sun give hard shadows that turn into blotches.
• Use more colours for skin and fur. Skin needs several close tones to look natural; 16–24 colours is a sensible range for a portrait, against 10–16 for a flower or a building.
• Edit the eyes by hand. Eyes are often only a few stitches. In the Studio, check that each eye has a clear dark pupil and a single highlight stitch, and protect them before running the cleanup.
• Simplify the background. Set it to “no stitch” or replace it with a single plain colour; a busy background competes with the face.
• Check thread matches for skin. Screen skin tones often land between two DMC threads. Look at the fair and loose matches in the Threads tab and choose by eye with the real skeins.

If the result still doesn’t look like the person, the cause is almost always size or light, not the converter. Try the same photo at a larger width, or a different photo with softer light, before spending time on manual edits. The photo checklist goes into each point with examples.

Combining photos, text and borders

Many favourite pieces mix elements: a pet portrait with its name underneath, a house with the family name and the year, a small motif inside a lettered frame. Every tool here produces the same kind of editable chart, so combining them is a matter of copying and pasting in the Studio.

1. Make the main image first. Convert the photo at the width you want for the whole piece, leaving room in the frame for text. If the photo fills the frame, enlarge the canvas in the Project tab; resizing adds empty squares around the design without changing it.
2. Make the text separately in the text generator with the alphabet and colour you want, and open it in the Studio.
3. Copy the text with the Select tool and Copy, switch to the main project, Paste, and drag the preview into place. Nothing is committed until you press Apply, and the arrow keys nudge the preview one square at a time.
4. Centre it by counting. The coordinates under the chart show the column under the pointer. For a design 120 stitches wide, a 60-stitch name starts at column 31.
5. Unify the colours. Pasting brings the text colour into the palette. If it is almost the same as an existing colour, merge them in the Colours tab so you buy one thread instead of two.

For borders, the text generator’s frames can be stretched around any content: type a few spaces or empty lines to make the frame the size you need, then paste the image inside it. Simple geometric borders also work well drawn by hand with the rectangle tool, one square in from the edge.

Placing a design on the fabric

Where the stitching sits on the fabric affects the finished piece as much as the chart does. A few rules of thumb from framers and finishers:

• Leave generous margins. Three inches (7.5 cm) on every side is standard for framing; it gives room to lace the fabric around a board and to adjust the position under a mat. For hoops, the margin must be wider than the hoop’s rim plus a little to trim.
• Optical centre. In a frame, a design that is exactly centred can look as if it is sliding down. Many framers set it a little above centre, with slightly more space at the bottom of the mat.
• Text and image as one block. Treat a name and its picture as a single shape when centring, and keep the gap between them about the height of one capital letter.
• Fabric colour is part of the design. On cream or oatmeal fabric, white highlights disappear unless you stitch them; on dark fabric, you’ll need light threads for anything that should read as bright. Decide the fabric before snapping colours to threads.
• Grain matters. Keep the fabric’s threads straight along the chart’s rows. A design stitched on a skewed piece will look tilted once it is framed square.

Before the first stitch: a checklist

Five minutes here saves hours of unpicking later.

• The chart’s finished size, with margins, fits the fabric you’ve cut and the frame or hoop you’ll use.
• Every colour in the key has a thread, and you have checked the loose matches by eye in daylight.
• You have enough skeins of the large colours, from the same dye lot.
• The Stitchability Check shows no surprises, and deliberate single stitches are protected.
• The chart is printed at 100% (or open in the tracker), and you have found the centre on both chart and fabric.
• The fabric edges are taped, zigzagged or overcast so they won’t fray while you work.
• You have downloaded a project file as a backup.

Troubleshooting common results

Cross stitch basics in ten minutes

If you have never stitched before, this is everything you need to start the chart you make here. A cross stitch is two diagonal stitches that cross in the middle of one square of fabric. Charts tell you which squares to fill and with which colour; everything else is technique.

The stitch itself

1. Bring the needle up through the bottom-left hole of the square and down through the top-right hole. That is the first leg (“/”).
2. Come up through the bottom-right hole and go down through the top-left. That is the top leg (“\”), and the cross is complete.
3. For a row of the same colour, work all the first legs across the row, then come back completing the crosses. This is faster and gives an even look.
4. Keep every top leg slanting the same way across the whole piece. Mixed directions catch the light differently and look patchy.

Other stitches you may meet

Good habits from day one

• Start from the centre of both the chart and the fabric.
• Start and finish threads without knots (how).
• Use a hoop or frame so the fabric stays taut and stitches stay even.
• Keep tension relaxed: stitches should sit on the fabric, not pull the holes larger.
• Let the needle hang now and then so the thread untwists.

Fixing mistakes on the fabric

Everyone miscounts. Stitchers call unpicking “frogging” (“rip it, rip it”), and it is a normal part of the craft. How you fix a mistake depends on its size.

The best prevention is counting in small chunks. The bold lines every ten squares on every chart are there for that: stitch up to a bold line, count back to check, then continue. Marking finished areas in the tracker also helps, because the next section always starts from a confirmed position.

A first weekend project, hour by hour

If you want to try the whole process once, from idea to a finished piece, a small name or motif fits comfortably in a weekend. Here is one realistic plan.

1. Friday evening, 30 minutes: type a short name in the text generator with Hearth Block, add a heart above it and a simple border. Aim for 40–60 stitches wide. Snap the colours to DMC in the Studio and download the PDF and the thread list.
2. Saturday morning: buy a small piece of 14-count Aida, a size 24 tapestry needle, a 5 or 6-inch hoop and the threads on the list. One skein per colour is plenty at this size.
3. Saturday afternoon, about 2 hours: find the centre of the fabric and the chart, start with the border or the largest letter, and work outwards. Mark each finished row.
4. Sunday, about 2 hours: finish the letters and the heart. Check every bold-line block against the chart before you move on.
5. Sunday evening, 30 minutes: wash and press it face down on a towel, then mount it in the hoop and trim the back.

Your own speed will differ, which is why the plan uses rough times rather than a formula. After this first piece you’ll know your pace, and you can choose your next project size with confidence.

What to make: ideas by occasion

A personal chart doesn’t have to be large to be meaningful. These ideas work well with the tools on this site and finish in a reasonable time.

For gifts, decide on the finish (card, hoop, frame or ornament) first; it fixes the size and makes every later decision easier. Finishing small projects explains each option.

Washing, pressing and framing

Finishing is what turns stitching into a gift or a wall piece. A little care keeps colours bright and fabric flat.

Washing

Hands leave natural oils on fabric over weeks of stitching, and hoops can leave creases. Many stitchers wash finished pieces before framing: lukewarm water, a small amount of gentle soap, no rubbing, and a thorough rinse. If you are unsure whether a thread is colourfast, test a spare length first, and wash dark and bright reds with particular care. Never wring the fabric; roll it in a clean towel to remove water.

Pressing

1. Lay a thick, clean towel on the ironing board.
2. Place the piece face down on the towel, so the stitches sink into it and stay raised.
3. Press (lift and lower rather than slide) with a medium iron, using a pressing cloth if the fabric is delicate.
4. Let it dry flat before mounting.

Framing

• Hoop display: the quickest finish. Centre the design, tighten the hoop, then trim the excess fabric at the back and glue or gather it.
• Picture frame: lace or tape the fabric around acid-free board so it stays taut. Leave the margins you planned (often 3 inches) so the fabric can wrap around the board.
• Glass: a mat keeps glass from pressing the stitches flat. Some stitchers prefer no glass so the texture shows; then keep the piece away from kitchens and direct sun.

Store unfinished projects rolled rather than folded, in a clean bag away from light.

Pattern maker, kit or bought chart?

A pattern maker isn’t always the best way to get a chart. Each route has strengths:

Many stitchers mix them: a kit for a first project, a free pattern for a gift, and a custom chart for the piece that matters most. When you buy designer charts or kits, you’re supporting the people who keep the craft’s design tradition alive.

Charts for low vision and colour blindness

Cross stitch is very adaptable, and the charts can be too:

• Bigger squares. Export with the 5.5 mm “extra large” square size, and choose landscape if it reduces page turns.
• Symbols, not colours. Every colour has a unique shape; black-and-white symbol charts don’t rely on colour at all.
• One colour at a time. In the tracker, selecting a colour dims everything else and highlights its symbol.
• Keyboard editing. The Studio’s cell editor and keyboard cursor let you change any square by row and column without a mouse.
• Coarser fabric. 11-count Aida has larger, easier-to-see holes.

The accessibility statement lists what has been tested and the known limits.

For stitchers everywhere

Cross stitch is stitched all over the world, and the tools are built to work wherever you are, with no account, no subscription and no regional restrictions.

• Names in many languages. The alphabets include accented Latin letters for French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, the Nordic languages, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Romanian, Turkish and more: José, Zoë, Søren, Łucja and Ayşe all stitch correctly. Accent marks are drawn as whole stitches above the letter, and the line only grows when an accent is used. Non-Latin scripts aren’t supported yet; the generator tells you which characters it can’t stitch.
• Inches and centimetres. Every size is shown in both, and the size calculator works entirely in centimetres if you prefer.
• US Letter and A4. Chart PDFs and graph paper come in both paper sizes, with square sizes in millimetres so they print true to size on either.
• Aida, evenweave and linen. Counts from 11 to 40 are supported, including stitching over two threads, which is common on European linens.
• Works offline. Conversion, editing and tracking run on your device, and after your first visit the main tools, the Studio, the tracker and your saved projects open even without a connection.
• Phones, tablets and computers. Every tool works on a small touch screen, including camera capture on phones and paste-from-clipboard on computers.

Your photos, projects and privacy

Photos of family and pets are personal, so the converter never uploads them. Your browser decodes the image, a background worker inside the page converts it, and only the resulting stitch grid is saved, on your device, if you choose to save. The original photo is never stored with the project.

Projects and progress live in your browser’s own storage. That is private and works offline, but it also means they exist only in that browser on that device. Download a project file from the Export dialog to keep a backup or to move a project to another device; the file contains the chart, its settings and your progress, and nothing else. There are no accounts, and no personal data is put in page addresses. The privacy policy describes exactly what is and isn’t collected.

Glossary

Aida

A cotton fabric woven in blocks with visible holes; each block takes one cross stitch.

Count

Stitches (Aida) or threads (evenweave, linen) per inch. Higher count, smaller stitches.

Evenweave / linen

Fabrics of single, evenly spaced threads, usually stitched over two threads.

Floss

Six-strand embroidery cotton, separated and recombined into the number of strands you need.

Strand

One of the six fine threads in floss. Two strands on 14-count is the common default.

Key (legend)

The list matching each symbol to a thread colour, usually with stitch counts.

Symbol

The shape printed in a chart square that identifies its thread.

No-stitch square

An empty square: the fabric shows through.

Confetti

Scattered single stitches of one colour, each needing its own thread start.

Region

Same-colour stitches connected edge to edge.

Overlap

Rows or columns repeated on neighbouring chart pages to help line them up.

Quantization

Reducing an image’s colours to a small palette.

Loop start / waste knot

Ways to begin a thread without a knot on the back.

DMC code

The catalogue number of a DMC floss colour, such as 310 (black). Charts here show the nearest code for each colour.

Skein

A bundle of floss as sold; a standard DMC six-strand skein is 8 m long.

Dye lot

One batch of dyed thread. Colours can vary slightly between lots, so buy large amounts together.

Frogging

Unpicking stitches to fix a mistake.

Over two

Stitching each cross over two threads of evenweave or linen, so 28-count gives 14 stitches per inch.

Every guide

Each guide answers its question in the first paragraph, shows an example from these tools, and links to a pattern to practise with.