Can I make a pattern using only the threads I already own?

Yes. Add your threads to your stash, then pick Threads I own in the Color Style list: every thread you own, or one brand. In the image importer, the Only … threads I own switch under the thread brand is a shortcut to the same choice.

Why does Pop Art have more than six colors?

An Art style starts with its own five to seven colors. Raise the count and it grows, up to 30, with lighter and darker shades of those colors and the colors halfway between two of them, so a photo can be stitched with shading instead of flat blocks. Nothing outside the style’s own hues is added.

Do I get real thread codes with a color style?

In the image importer, yes: each style color is matched to the closest real thread in your chosen brand, so the pattern lists codes you can buy. Saved palettes and your stash are already threads.

Why did I end up with fewer colors than the count?

In the image importer the color count is a ceiling. Color reduction and Clean up can land under it, so a count of 20 can give you 17.

Color Styles

Basics

A color style decides which colors a pattern is stitched in. Leave it on Natural and the photo keeps its own colors. Pick a style and the same picture is redrawn in that set of colors: Sepia, a blue Blueprint duotone, Pop Art, one of your saved palettes, or only the threads you own.

The same Color Style picker appears in two places: the image importer and the editor's Apply a Palette. A palette you save shows up in both.

Color style list: the group index (Natural, My palettes, Threads I own, Starter palettes, Art styles, Monochrome, Duotone, Tritone, Tracing, Build your own) with a strip of swatches on each row

Where to find it

Image import. On the Pattern step, the Colors section starts with a Style row showing the current choice ("Natural" or the style's name). Click it to open the Color style view; Back and Done return to the settings. Pixel art has the same Style row on its own step, and each kept color goes to a style color one for one. PDF imports don't offer styles, since the PDF brings its own palette. More in Image Import.

On a phone (image import): open All settings, then Your palette. Color style is at the top; tap it to open the list in its own sheet.

Editor. Open Palette tools at the bottom of the palette and choose Apply a Palette, the first tool. The panel recolors your existing chart; see Palette Tools → Apply a Palette for the before-and-after strip and per-color overrides. Natural isn't offered here, because the pattern already has its colors.

Finding a style

The list opens as an index: one row per group, each with a few strips of swatches so you can tell a duotone from an art style at a glance. The row holding your current choice names it.

Open a group to see its styles. Click down the list to compare: picking stays inside the group, and the preview recolors with each click.
All styles takes you back to the index.
A group with only one choice (Natural, Tracing) is picked straight from the index.
Search colors at the top finds matches in every group at once.
Escape steps back: it clears the search first, then leaves the open group.

At the top, a summary line shows the current choice: its swatches, its name, and how many colors it has.

What you can pick

Groups appear in this order. Empty ones (no saved palettes, no stash) are left out.

Natural

The photo's own colors. Import only. It's the default, and it's what you get when you don't pick a style.

My palettes and Starter palettes

My palettes are palettes you saved, for example with Save to my palettes in Palette Tools. Starter palettes come with Stitchmate. Both are lists of real threads, so their codes carry through to the legend.

Threads I own

Your stash. Every thread I own combines all your brands (shown when you own threads from more than one), then there's one row per brand.

In the image importer, the Only DMC threads I own switch under the thread brand (in Fabric & threads) is a shortcut to the same thing: switching it on picks that brand's row here, and off goes back to Natural. It shows only when you own threads in that brand.

Art styles

Fixed sets of colors with a character of their own:

Style	What it looks like
Pop Art	Saturated comic-book palette
Vaporwave	Pink, purple, teal, soft yellow
Earth Tones	Warm naturals
Watercolor	Soft muted washes
Neon Noir	Dark base with neon accents

Each starts with its own five to seven colors. Raise the count and it can grow to 30: first the style's own colors, unchanged, then lighter and darker shades of them and the colors halfway between two of them. Nothing outside the style's hues is added, so Pop Art stays Pop Art, just with shading instead of flat poster blocks. Lower the count below the style's own length and it uses its first colors.

The same photo in Pop Art at 6 colors and at 24 colors, side by side

Monochrome, Duotone and Tritone

Gradients: the picture's light and dark are spread across a ramp of colors.

Monochrome: Black & White, Sepia, Negative, Charcoal, Slate.
Duotone: Blueprint, Noir + Brass, Pastel Mood, Forest, Rust, Game Boy, Wine.
Tritone: Riso · Pink + Teal, Vintage Photo, Mocha, Ocean, Sunset.

A gradient can be drawn at 2 to 32 colors. More colors means smoother shading.

Tracing

Muted, distinct hues for outlining. It can grow to 50 colors.

Build your own

Gradient: a ramp between 1–3 anchor colors that you choose. With one anchor, Stitchmate makes a darker and a lighter tint of it. Draw it at 2 to 32 colors.
My colors: pick each color yourself, up to 24.

Selecting either one opens its editor right under the row.

How many colors

Image import. The Color count slider under the Style row is the one count for every style:

Natural: how many threads the photo is reduced to, 2 to 256. It reads "20 max".
A style (art, gradient, tracing): how many colors the style is drawn at, also read as "N max".
A palette, your stash, or My colors: how many of its colors to use, picked for the picture. It reads "12 of 47".

The count is a ceiling, not a promise. Color reduction and Clean up can land under it. Beside it, "Typical for this size: A–B" gives a reference range for the pattern's size. It's a reference point, not a target.

Editor. Apply a Palette shows a Colors slider for styles that can be resized. A saved palette or your stash is applied as it is.

How it maps

Under the choice, How it maps decides which style color each part of the picture (or each chart color) becomes:

By lightness: each color takes the style's shade of the same lightness. The default for gradients.
Closest color: each color becomes the nearest color in the style. The default for art styles, palettes and your stash.

The options button next to it has finer controls:

Color vs lightness (Closest color): how much hue counts against lightness.
Flip dark and light (By lightness): the darkest part of the picture takes the lightest color.
Fill the palette's range (By lightness): stretch the picture's own light-to-dark range over the whole ramp. Turn it off and each area takes the color of its absolute lightness.

There's no right answer here. Try both on your picture and keep the look you like. With Natural there is nothing to map, so the control is disabled.

Tips & gotchas

Compare inside a group. Clicking stays in the open group, so you can click down Duotone and watch the preview change without reopening anything.
Use your stash for "make it from what I have". Threads I own gives you a pattern you can start without a shop trip.
Art styles look flat? Raise the count. Past the style's own colors you get shades of them, which reads as shading on a portrait or landscape.
Gradients love portraits. Sepia, Charcoal or a duotone at 8–12 colors gives a classic photo look with few threads.
The count can come in under. In the importer "20 max" means up to 20; clean-up may merge a few away.
Save a palette you like. In the editor, Save to my palettes puts it under My palettes for your next import.
In the editor, Undo puts it back. Apply a Palette recolors the whole chart; Cmd/Ctrl+Z undoes it.