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]

Hanukkah is a great reason to pull out your cross stitch fabric and thread and stitch up some fun seasonal cross stitch patterns.

If you have trouble spelling Hanukkah (I know I do!) you’ll want to stitch up the How Do You Spell… project from SKB Cross Stitch Design. This one includes a bunch of different ways to spell the holiday, along with some symbols like a dreidel and menorah. (Technically I think all the ways to spell it are “correct.”) The pattern includes full, fractional and bask titches, and measures 8.5 by 7 inches, or 21.6 by 17.8 cm. It has the date for 2004/5785 but you can easily change the year or leave that part off.

Another project with some fun word play is the Words to Live By chart from Sam Brie Stitches. This one includes Hanukkah related symbols and word presented crossword puzzle style, which is fun to stitch and to display. The design uses 10 colors and measures 74 by 103 stitches. It’s shown worked on 18 count fabric.

I may have shared these before, but the Hanukkah patterns from the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery are so cute they’re definitely worth sharing again. Happy Hanukkah features a menorah, dreidels, gelt, stars and candles, and it fits in a 6-inch hoop. At 75 by 75 stitches, it comes out to 5.4 inches/13.4 cm on 14 count Aida or 28 count linen. They also have this cute little dreidel stamp cross stitch pattern, which is 39 by 49 stitches, or 2.8 by 3.5 inches (about 7 by 9 cm) on 14 count Aida or 28 count linen.

Works By ABC has a lot of great patterns for Hanukkah, but here are just a couple to get you started. The Rules for Dreidel design is fun for kids and adults and shows the different sides of the dreidel and what it means when you land on them. The stitch count is 62 by 94 and its shown worked on 32 count linen. It calls for three colors. I also like this menorah one, which measures 44 by 49 stitches and uses two colors along with coordinating seed beads. On 32 count linen as shown (equivalent to 16 count Aida) it measures 2.75 by 3.1 inches, or almost 7 by 7.8 cm.

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