Converting Photos to Cross Stitch

One of the questions I commonly hear from crafters, whether it’s related to cross stitch, knitting or crochet, is wondering how best to convert a photo or other image (like a logo) into a pattern that they can stitch.

I don’t have a very good answer because I haven’t done a lot of this kind of work, and the free online converters I’ve used have not been that great, meaning that I had to redraw my chart even when I was using a relatively simple design.

Crewel Ghoul decided to put a few pattern generators to the test and show off her results in a blog post. She wanted to look specifically at online or app pattern makers rather than programs you have to download and focused on Stitch Fiddle, Stitchly and Floss Cross.

She designed a floral image (which you can see above) and had each generator create a design of the same size and with the same maximum number of colors. Each one is rated on a scale of 1 to 3 for accuracy of color and design, ease of use and level of customization allowed, for a possible score of 12.

You’ll have to head over there to see all her designs and the rankings of the generators, but I will tell you that they all seemed to do pretty well and if you don’t need to make a lot of patterns or have a high level of customization (say you’re only making a pattern from a photo for personal use and don’t expect to need to do so regularly) you can develop a fine pattern with just free tools or the free version of tools.

That said, the more complex the pattern you’re trying to make in terms of size, number of colors, shadows, etc., the harder it is for any program to replicate. But it’s worth taking a look at these tools to see what they can do for you.

Head over to Crewel Ghoul to read the full review and take a look at the different versions of her pattern the generators made.

[Photo: Crewel Ghoul]

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When you put all the time and energy you do into making a great cross stitch project, it’s worth taking the time to frame it in a way that will make it look its best.

Often for smaller designs we’ll choose to frame projects in a hoop, which is cute and a fine option, especially for seasonal projects you might want to change out through the year. Others will send their finished projects for professional framing, which is a great option for gifts and heirloom items that need to be preserved, but it can also be quite expensive.

Crewel Ghoul has a great tutorial for a way that you can easily frame your cross stitch projects at home with just a few supplies.

She uses adhesive mounting board (but you can use non-adhesive board if you have some one hand or you need a size that’s not available in an adhesive version) and a few other basic supplies to secure the sides and corners of the cross stitch fabric around the board before putting the design in the frame.

This requires a bit of hand sewing, but we’re cross stitchers so I’m sure we can handle that.

Framing your cross stitch like this gives it a little padding in the frame, which makes it look better than if it were just flat in a frame with no special finishing. It’s also a great idea to use a frame without glass or to leave the glass out of the frame so it doesn’t crush your stitches.

And though this is super secure it’s not 100 percent permanent if you decide you don’t want the project framed in that way any more. Or you can take it out of the frame and the edges are still all nicely finished so you can display it a different way without having to do anything else to it.

Check out the tutorial at Crewel Ghoul.

[Photo: Crewel Ghoul.]

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