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

Cute spooky and fantasy cross stitch patterns is how the designer behind Haunted Frames describes their shop, and I have to agree with them. These designs are cute and Gothic and a little bit spooky all at once. There’s a heavy focus on book themes, which you know I am a fan of, so let’s get into it.

Stopping first in the books section, there are lots of designs that are literally on book shapes, but if you know my love of both books and cats, you’ll know I had to share the Midnight Book Cart cross stitch pattern. As the name suggests it’s a design with a witchy book cart, complete with a spiderweb, bats flying out of a book and what it describes as a ghost cat (though I would have to make a black cat instead of a white one since I have a black cat, and that fits with the vibe).

The design is 65 by 97 stitches and is worked in 17 colors. It’s shown on 16 count fabric, which makes it 4.1 by 6.1 inches, or 10.3 by 15.4 cm.

I also love the winter themed little free library design, which would be perfect to stitch up for the little librarian in your life (or to drop at a neighborhood book space).

Projects with a book theme make up the majority of the patterns that are categorized in this shop, but you’ll want to scroll through all their patterns to see what else is available, since it doesn’t look like everything is in a category. You’ll find castles and dragons, more cats of course, some more obviously Halloween and Christmas themed projects and those that would suit for spooky season or any other time of year.

If cute and dark is your aesthetic, you’ll want to check out all the patterns at www.etsy.com/shop/HauntedFrames, which you can find on Etsy.

[Photo: Haunted Frames]

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