How do I draw a single short line instead of a long path?

Choose Line in the tool bar. Click the start, click the end, and the line is placed. Polyline, the default, keeps adding points until you press Enter or double-click.

How does Auto-outline work?

Click a stitch and Stitchmate outlines the whole area of that color connected to it, in the color you have selected. Separate patches of the same color are not included, so click each one you want.

Can Stitchmate add backstitch automatically?

Yes, as a preview feature. In image import, turn on Backstitch on the Pattern step. In the editor, use Pattern → Generate Backstitch from Image… or Generate in the backstitch tool bar. You choose how many lines to keep, and every line it makes is ordinary backstitch you can edit or delete.

Can I fix a line after drawing it?

Yes. Select it with Select & Edit, then press Enter (or Edit Points) and drag the ends to new spots. You can also move, scale, rotate, copy or delete selected lines.

How do I change the color of a backstitch I already drew?

Select the line or lines with Select & Edit, then click the new color in the palette.

Backstitch Tool

Add crisp outlines and detail lines on top of your stitches. Draw lines and paths, place shapes, outline a color area in one click, or trace outlines from your photo, then fine-tune any line.

Shortcut: K
Where to find it: Left toolbar → Backstitch

Keyboard & modifiers

K: Backstitch tool
Shift+P: Polyline mode on or off
Enter: Finish a path / place a shape / edit points of the selection
Escape: Cancel the current path or shape / deselect
Shift (while dragging a shape): Keep the shape in proportion
Alt (while dragging a shape): Draw the shape from its center
Alt+Drag: Duplicate selected backstitch
DeleteBackspace: Delete selected backstitch
Cmd+ACtrl+A: Select all backstitch
Cmd+CCtrl+C: Copy selected backstitch
Cmd+XCtrl+X: Cut selected backstitch
Cmd+VCtrl+V: Paste backstitch

Basics

Backstitch is the outline pass: thin lines stitched on top of your cross stitches. It gives a face its features, makes lettering readable, and turns a soft photo conversion into a picture with clear edges. If you haven't stitched it before, Caterpillar Cross Stitch's guide explains the technique.

Before and after: a cartoon fox with no backstitch, and the same fox with dark outlines around the head, eyes and tail

In Stitchmate, backstitch sits on top of the stitches and never changes them. You can add it in several ways, mix them freely, and undo any of them.

Backstitch is extra stitching, so a lot of it lowers the Threads to manage part of your FLOW score, and a pattern with none gets a small bonus there. Add it where it helps the design, not for the score.

Which way to add backstitch

I want to…	Use
Outline an edge, draw whiskers, add a detail	Polyline, clicking from point to point
Add one short line, like a stem or an eyelash	Line
Add a heart, star, circle or flower outline	Shapes
Outline a whole patch of one color	Auto-outline
Get outlines for a whole photo conversion	Generate, then tidy up by hand
Fix, move or copy lines you already have	Select & Edit

The Backstitch button in the left toolbar holds three tools: Draw (lines, paths and shapes), Select & Edit, and Auto-outline.

Drawing lines

Pick the Draw tool (K) and choose a thread color in the palette. The tool bar has three ways to place backstitch: Line, Polyline and a shape.

Polyline (the default, Shift+P) is for outlines. Click point after point along the edge. To finish, press Enter, double-click, or right-click; click the first point again to close a loop. Esc cancels the path you're drawing. On a tablet or phone, use Finish and Cancel in the tool bar.

Line is for single accents: click the start, click the end, and the line is placed.

You don't need to aim precisely. Points snap to stitch corners and to the halfway points between them, and a crosshair shows where the next point will land. Halfway points let you make gentler diagonals and curves than corners alone would.

If symmetry is on, your lines are mirrored as you draw.

Polyline: clicking around a leaf edge point by point, the line snapping to corners and halfway points, Enter to finish

Shapes

For a heart, star, circle, flower, leaf, moon and other simple outlines, open the shape tile in the tool bar and pick one.

Drag on the chart to size the shape. Hold Shift to keep it in proportion, or Alt to grow it from the center.
Let go. The shape waits in a frame, so you can still move it, resize it and rotate it.
Press Place (or Enter, or click outside the frame). Cancel (or Esc) drops it.

Rotate in the tool bar sets the angle before you drag: one click for the common angles, or the slider for anything in 15° steps.

Shapes are drawn fresh at the size you drag, so a big heart gets smooth curves rather than a blown-up small one. Once placed, a shape is ordinary backstitch you can edit like any line.

Placing the same shape again? Right-click the shape tile to pick up the last one without opening the list.

Shapes: pick Heart, drag it out on the chart, rotate the frame a little, press Place

Auto-outline

The quickest way to outline a whole patch of color. Pick Auto-outline, choose the outline thread in the palette, and click any stitch in the area. Stitchmate draws backstitch all the way around that area, in one undo step.

Only stitches joined side by side count as one area. Stitches touching only at a corner, and other patches of the same color elsewhere, get their own outline when you click them.

On a photo conversion, clicking the main color areas one by one is a fast way to see whether outlines help, before you spend time drawing them by hand.

Before and after: a red heart shape, then the same heart after one Auto-outline click, a dark line running around its edge

Generate outlines from the image

Stitchmate can trace outlines for you from your pattern. It's a Preview feature, still being tuned: expect to remove a few stray lines and add some by hand. Everything it makes is ordinary backstitch you can edit or delete.

Where:

In image import: on the Pattern step, turn on Backstitch (Outlines from your image) at the end of the settings. Only crafts that use backstitch show it. See Image Import.
In the editor: Pattern → Generate Backstitch from Image…, or Generate in the backstitch tool bar. The outlines appear on the chart; press Apply to add them or Cancel to leave the pattern as it was.

The controls:

Lines: how many of the traced lines to keep, longest and clearest first. Below it you see the number of lines and stitches and a time estimate, so you know what you're signing up for. Start low and add more.
Thread: the outline color and strand count.
Trace from: Source image finds detail the chart lost when colors were reduced; Chart colors follows the stitched color areas exactly. Only offered when the pattern still has its original image.

Advanced, for when the result isn't right. Each change re-scans the image, so there's a short wait.

If…	Try
Outlines are missing	Raise Sensitivity (default 50)
Lines pick up texture, like fur or fabric	Lower Sensitivity, or lower Contrast boost (default 50, 0 is off)
A flat, washed-out photo gives few lines	Raise Contrast boost
Lines are jagged and follow every step	Raise Smoothness (default 65)
Lines cut corners and miss small detail	Lower Smoothness
Lots of tiny stubs	Raise Shortest line (default 1.25 stitches)

If the panel says "No clear outlines found", raise Sensitivity or switch to tracing from the chart.

Generate Backstitch panel in the editor beside a portrait with traced outlines: Trace from, the Lines slider with its line count and time estimate, Thread, and Advanced opened

Fixing and reusing lines

Switch to Select & Edit to change backstitch you already have.

Selecting: click a line, Shift+click to add or remove more, drag a box over several, or press Cmd/Ctrl+A for all of them.

Then:

Move: drag the selection. It snaps to a fine grid so lines stay tidy.
Reshape: press Enter (or Edit Points) and drag the ends of the lines. Press Enter or Esc when done.
Resize or rotate: drag the handles of the box around the selection. Sizing pauses briefly at half, normal and double size.
Recolor: click a new color in the palette.
Copy: hold Alt and drag for a quick copy, or use copy, cut and paste. Paste puts the lines at your pointer. The copy is still there after you switch tools.
Delete: Delete or Backspace.

Right-click a selected line for the same actions, plus Convert to Polyline to keep extending a single line.

Select & Edit: click an outline, press Enter, drag one end to a new corner, then Alt-drag a copy of a small detail

Thread and thickness

Backstitch uses the color selected in the palette, so pick the thread first. The Strands menu sets how many strands to stitch with, from 1 to 4 (2 by default), and the line on the chart gets thicker to match. Most outlines are stitched in one or two strands.

New lines use whatever is set when you draw them. To change existing lines, select them and pick the new color.

To check the pattern without its outlines, turn off Backstitches in View Options.

Tips & gotchas

Draw backstitch last. It sits on top of the stitches and doesn't follow when they're recolored or cleaned up, so finish those before you outline.
Enter does different things. While drawing, it finishes the path or places the shape. With lines selected, it starts point editing.
Overlapping lines don't stack. Drawing over a stretch that already has backstitch replaces it with the newer line.
Auto-outline is one undo step. If the outline isn't what you wanted, one Undo removes all of it.
Too busy to see the stitches? Hide backstitch in View Options while you work on colors.

Learn the backstitch technique

This page covers drawing backstitch on the chart. For working it on fabric:

Backstitch in cross stitch: our guide on when and why to use it.
Caterpillar Cross Stitch: a step-by-step guide with photos, good for beginners.
Peacock & Fig: a video tutorial.
DMC: stitch direction, tension and common mistakes.