What's the difference between single and connected line mode?

Single mode creates one line between two points — click start, click end, done. Connected mode lets you click successive points to trace a path of multiple segments, finished by pressing Enter or right-clicking. Use single for quick accent lines; connected for outlines that follow a shape.

How does Auto-outline work?

Click on any stitch and the auto-outline tool traces the boundary of the connected area of that color. It creates backstitch lines along every edge where that color meets a different color or empty space. One click outlines an entire shape.

Can I edit individual backstitch points after drawing?

Yes. Select the backstitch, then press Enter or click Edit Points in the toolbar. Draggable handles appear at each endpoint. Drag a handle to reposition it — it snaps to a fine grid so lines stay tidy. Press Enter again or Escape to exit.

How do I change the color of an existing backstitch?

Select the backstitch(es) you want to change, then pick a new color from the palette. The selected backstitches update to the new color.

Backstitch Tool

Add crisp outlines and detail lines on top of your stitches. Draw single lines or connected paths, edit points, and auto-outline color areas with one click.

Shortcut: K Location: Left toolbar → Backstitch

Keyboard & modifiers

K: Switch to Backstitch Draw tool
P: Toggle connected line mode
Enter: Finish connected line / toggle point editing
Escape: Cancel current line / deselect all
Delete Backspace: Delete selected backstitches
Cmd+A Ctrl+A: Select all backstitches
Cmd+C Ctrl+C: Copy selected backstitches
Cmd+X Ctrl+X: Cut selected backstitches
Cmd+V Ctrl+V: Paste backstitches

Basics

Backstitch is the "ink" pass — thin lines that add definition on top of your cross-stitch. Use it for faces, text clarity, borders, and turning photo conversions from mush into something readable — Peacock & Fig's video tutorial shows the technique in action. Adding backstitch to key areas also improves your pattern's FLOW score by boosting the Workability sub-score.

Backstitch basics — draw outlines, select, edit

The backstitch system has three tools (all under the same toolbar button):

Draw — Place new backstitch lines, one at a time or as connected paths.
Select & Edit — Click, box-select, move, scale, rotate, and edit existing backstitches.
Auto-outline — One-click borders around color areas.

Backstitch always draws on top of stitches. Every operation is fully undoable.

Drawing backstitches

In single-line mode (default): click a start point, click an end point — a line appears. Two clicks, one line.

You'll see a live preview as you place the second point — the crosshair shows where the line will snap.

Single-line drawing — click start, click end

Connected line mode

Press P to draw a connected path: click, click, click to outline a shape.

Finish the path:

Press Enter or double-click.
Right-click (after at least one segment).

Cancel the whole path: Escape.

Connected line mode — click successive points, Enter to finish

Tip: Connected mode is best for outlining shapes. Single-line mode is best for little accents.

Grid snapping

Endpoints snap to helpful points on the grid:

Stitch corners
Halfway points (midpoints between corners)

This gives you enough resolution for diagonals and curves while keeping everything aligned to the stitch grid. You don't need to aim precisely — the nearest snap point is always highlighted with a crosshair.

Selecting & editing

Switch to the Select & Edit sub-tool to work with existing backstitches.

Selection:

Click a backstitch to select it (replaces current selection).
Shift+Click to toggle additional lines in/out of the selection.
Drag a box from empty space to select multiple lines.
Cmd/Ctrl+A to select all backstitch lines in the pattern.

Moving:

Drag selected backstitches to move them. Moving snaps to a fine grid so lines stay tidy.
Alt+Drag duplicates instead of moving — perfect for repeating a detail.

Select and move — click, drag, snap to grid

Deleting:

Delete or Backspace removes selected backstitches.

When lines are selected, the toolbar shows quick actions like Edit Points, Duplicate, and Delete.

Point editing

Select one or more backstitches, then press Enter (or click Edit Points in the toolbar) to adjust endpoints.

Drag the handles to reshape the line — everything snaps to the grid so it stays clean. Handles highlight when hovered or active.

Press Enter again or Escape to exit point editing.

Point editing — drag handles to reshape a backstitch

Transform: scale & rotate

Selected backstitches show a transform box:

Corner handles — scale both directions.
Edge handles — scale one direction.
Top handle — rotate around the center.

Scaling has a few clean stops (like 0.5×, 1×, 2×) so you can hit common sizes quickly. Everything snaps back onto the grid.

Scale and rotate — drag corner to resize, top handle to rotate

Copy, paste & duplicate

Standard clipboard shortcuts work on selected backstitches:

Copy (Cmd/Ctrl+C) — copy to clipboard.
Cut (Cmd/Ctrl+X) — copy and delete. One Undo step.
Paste (Cmd/Ctrl+V) — paste at the mouse position. Pasted lines are auto-selected.
Duplicate (Alt+Drag) — creates a copy while dragging.

Copy/paste works like you'd expect — and it keeps working even if you switch tools in between.

Auto-outline

Auto-outline draws a backstitch border around a color area with one click:

Click any stitch in the area you want to outline.
Stitchmate finds the connected region of that color.
It draws backstitch lines all the way around the edge.

A brief highlight confirms which stitches were outlined.

Auto-outline — click a color area, outline appears instantly

If the color area contains separate islands, each one gets its own outline. The whole operation is one Undo step.

Pro tip: On photo conversions, click the big color regions one by one — definition appears instantly.

Line appearance

Backstitch has its own style settings:

Property	Options	Default
Strand count	1, 2, 3, or 4	2
Line style	Solid, Dashed, Dotted	Solid
Color	Any palette color	Active color

New lines use your current settings. Strand count controls thickness — higher = thicker.

Backstitch thickness stays visually consistent while zooming, so lines always look proportional to the stitch grid.

You can toggle all backstitches on/off in View Options.

Right-click a selected backstitch for quick actions:

Edit Points — enter point editing mode.
Duplicate — create an offset copy.
Select All Backstitches — select every backstitch in the pattern.
Delete Selected — remove selected backstitches.

Tips & gotchas

P toggles connected line mode. You'll use this constantly. Single-line for quick accents, connected for shapes.
Enter has two jobs. In draw mode: finish the connected line. In select mode: toggle point editing. Context determines which.
Alt+Drag to duplicate. Hold Alt before you start dragging — it creates a copy instead of moving the original.
Auto-outline is one-step Undo. If the outline doesn't look right, Cmd/Ctrl+Z removes the whole thing.
Backstitch always draws on top. It overlays stitches, grid, and fabric. If it's visually overwhelming, toggle it off in View Options.
Endpoints snap to corners + halfway points. Great for diagonals — you don't need to aim precisely.
Clipboard persists across tools. Copy backstitches, switch to another tool, come back, and paste still works.
Strand count affects thickness. If your backstitch lines look too thin or thick, adjust strand count rather than zooming.
Need technique tips? DMC's backstitch guide covers stitch direction, tension, and common mistakes on real fabric.

Learn the backstitch technique

Want to learn (or refine) the actual stitching technique? These external resources cover what this tool page doesn't — needle technique, tension, and working backstitch on fabric:

Caterpillar Cross Stitch — backstitch guide — clear step-by-step with photos, great for beginners.
Peacock & Fig — backstitch video tutorial — watch the technique in real time.
DMC — backstitch tips — official DMC guide covering direction, tension, and common mistakes.
Backstitch in cross stitch — our full guide on when and why to use backstitch in your patterns.

Under the hood (optional)

Technical details for the curious:

Snap grid for drawing: Endpoints use a half-stitch grid — stitch corners (whole coordinates) and stitch centers (half coordinates).
Snap grid for moving/point editing: A finer quarter-stitch grid for precise repositioning.
Auto-outline connectivity: Uses 4-way connectivity (up/down/left/right, no diagonals) to find connected color regions. Boundary segments are placed along every edge where the region meets a different color or empty space.
Scale snap stops: 0.5×, 1.0×, and 2.0× for common sizing. All transformed coordinates snap back to the quarter-stitch grid.
Replacement merging: When backstitches overlap the same segment, the newer one replaces the older one rather than stacking.