Reviews of Cross Stitch Charting Software

I have been doing a little more cross stitch design this year, and while I generally start by drawing out my patterns by hand on graph paper, eventually I want them to be prettier and easier to read than a hand drawn chart would be.

Because I’m also a knitwear designer, I actually bought a program that makes knitting charts, which I can use for really basic charts. And by really basic I mean single color, whole stitches only. I could show blocks of different colors but they wouldn’t be different symbols if someone wanted to print the chart in black and white. I also can’t add things like back stitching or French knots.

So I’ve been thinking about whether I need to get some design software that was specifically made for cross stitch. Luckily lots of professional designers have used cross stitch programs before me and are willing to share what they have learned.

Gathered asked five professional cross stitch designers to try and review five different cross stitch design programs, including one specifically for Macs, two for PCs, one that’s an app, and one, StitchFiddle (probably the most popular one out there) that’s a cloud-based program you access via a website.

It’s not quite the same as getting reviews of all the programs from the same person, but these reviews are good overviews of the features of the programs. They touch on the different thread and symbol options, key features, how importing photos into the program works and their verdict on how the program works and who it is best for. The prices are listed in pounds since Gathered is a UK publication.

You can check out all the reviews on their website. It was interesting for me to read all of these. Since I use both a Mac and a PC, I could use any of these, but I have to figure out where I’d want to design more often to determine which one is best to buy (or I could use StitchFiddle anywhere).

If you have experience with any of these cross stitch design patterns I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo from Cross Stitch Professional Platinum, via Gathered]

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Printable Cross Stitch Graph Paper

Summertime is beach time, which also means it’s seagull time. Let’s stitch up some of our favorite scavengers of the shore.

This little seagull stamp from Easy Patterns Only is super cute and fun to stitch for any lover of the sea. At 23 by 27 stitches, it uses six colors and measures 1.64 by 1.93 inches or 4.17 by 4.9 cm on 14 count fabric.

I also love this silly little seagull from Stitchissimo. This one is 24 by 35 stitches and uses five colors. On 14 count fabric it’s just 1.7 by 2.5 inches, or 4.4 by 6.4 cm.

Go for a more traditional flying gull project with this one from Silverberry Designs. It uses six colors and measures 2.21 by 4.43 inches (5.6 by 11.3 cm) on 14 count fabric with a stitch count of 31 by 62.

Use seagulls to share your love with this pattern from Yellow Birdie Stitches. Share it with the person you love more than a seagull loves chips (you could change it to fries pretty easily if you prefer the American term). It’s 63 by 60 stitches and uses 10 colors. On 14 count fabric it comes out to 4.5 by 4.25 inches, or 11.4 by 10.9 cm.

And speaking of fries, Happy Sloth Patterns offers this seagull with a face full of chips. It uses nine colors and is 60 by 49 stitches. On 14 count fabric that’s 4.3 by 3.5 inches, or 10.9 by 8.9 cm, which fits nicely in a six-inch hoop.

Or stitch up some carousing gulls with this pattern from Non Stop Stitch. It looks like these seagulls are about to get into a fight! The design uses 22 colors and blends and measures 145 by 75 stitches. That’s 8.94 by 4.31 inches, or 22.7 by 10.95 cm on 14 count fabric.

For a more stately seagull sailor, check out this pattern from Mansarda Cross Stitch. This one combines cross stitch and an embroidered background, though you could leave that out if you don’t do embroidery. It calls for 20 colors and one blend, and measures 83 by 88 stitches. The sample was worked on 56 count linen 1 over 2, but you can use regular Aida fabric if you prefer.

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