Editing Colors

Change colors without breaking your pattern: pick from thread brands (DMC/Anchor/etc.), swap one color everywhere, fine-tune a shade, and keep symbols in sync.

Location: Right panel → Palette
Keyboard & modifiers
Q
Previous color in palette
E
Next color in palette

Basics

Three core palette operations:

  1. Edit a color — change its shade, name, symbol, or legend comment.
  2. Replace a color — swap every stitch of one color for a different thread.
  3. Merge colors — combine two or more similar shades into one.
Palette overview — select, edit, merge, and manage colors

Nothing here is scary — every change is undoable.

If you're using a thread brand palette (DMC, Anchor, Cosmo, etc.), Stitchmate keeps real thread codes. You're not "inventing" colors — you're choosing from real threads.

Common workflows

Selecting colors

Click a palette swatch to select it as your active color — this is the color you'll edit, replace, or paint with.

  • Q / E — cycle through the palette (follows your current sort order).

For batch operations (merge, delete), multi-select with modifier keys:

  • Ctrl/Cmd+Click or Shift+Click — toggle a color in/out of the selection.

When 2+ colors are selected, the bottom bar shows Merge and Clear buttons.

Multi-select — 3 colors selected, Merge button visible

Editing a color

Want the same pattern, just a slightly different shade? Edit the palette color — the whole pattern updates wherever it's used.

Right-click a color → Edit Color (or click the Edit button at the bottom).

The Edit Color panel lets you change:

  • Replace Color — opens the thread library browser to swap this color for a different thread (see Replacing a color).
  • Display name — rename the color (leave blank to keep the original thread name).
  • Legend comment — a note that shows up in the PDF legend.
  • Symbol — assign or change the chart symbol.

Quick actions at the bottom:

  • Select All Stitches — selects every stitch using this color (switches to Selection tool).
  • Erase All Stitches — clears all stitches using this color but keeps the color in the palette.
  • Remove Color — replaces all stitches with the closest-looking palette color, then deletes this one.

For thread brand palettes, "editing" means choosing a different thread code from the same brand — you're always working with real threads.

Edit Color panel — name, symbol, legend comment, quick actions

Replacing a color

Replace swaps every stitch of one color for a different thread — great for when you know exactly which thread you want.

  1. Right-click a color and choose Replace with a color... (or open the Edit Color panel and click Replace Color).
  2. The thread library browser opens — search by thread code, name, or color family.
  3. Click colors to live-preview the swap on the canvas.
  4. Click Apply to confirm, or Cancel to revert.

The old color is removed from the palette and the new one takes its place. One Undo step.

Replace color — right-click, pick a replacement from the browser

Pro tip: Use Replace when you want a specific swap — like changing DMC 310 to DMC 3371 for a warmer black.

Merging colors

Merge combines two or more palette colors into one. Useful for reducing your color count after import, or when you have near-identical shades that should be the same color.

  1. Multi-select 2+ colors (Ctrl/Cmd+Click or Shift+Click).
  2. Click Merge N Colors in the bottom bar.
  3. The merge panel shows all selected colors sorted by stitch count.
  4. Click any color to make it the target (the one that survives). It gets a "Keep" badge; others get "Merge" badges.
  5. The canvas shows a live preview of the merge result.
  6. Click Merge to apply, or Cancel to revert.
Merge colors — select 3 colors, pick target, merge

Pro tip: Start with the color that has the most stitches as the merge target — it means fewer visual changes across the pattern.

Symbols

Symbols are letters or shapes drawn on top of each stitch. They make it easy to tell similar colors apart — especially important for B&W printing and when your palette has several close shades.

To change a symbol:

  1. Open the Edit Color panel.
  2. Click Replace Symbol to open the symbol picker.
  3. Choose from the grid. Symbols already assigned to other colors are dimmed.
  4. Select "No symbol" if you want plain color blocks.
Symbol picker — available symbols, assigned ones dimmed

Symbols show on-screen when the Symbols toggle is on in View Options, and they always appear in PDF exports that use Full or Symbols Only mode.

If two colors are very close in shade, distinct symbols become essential for readability.

Legend comments

Legend comments are short notes attached to a color that appear in the PDF export legend. They're great for color-specific stitching instructions.

Examples:

  • "Use 1 strand for backstitch"
  • "Blend with DMC 3865"
  • "Metallic thread"
  • "French knots only"

Open the Edit Color panel and type in the Legend comment field (max 200 characters). The comment shows up next to the color's swatch, code, and stitch count in the exported PDF legend.

Palette tools

Click Palette Tools in the bottom bar for batch palette operations. These are covered in detail on the Palette Tools page:

  • Adjust Colors — shift brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, and warmth with live preview.
  • Simplify Colors — reduce the number of colors while preserving pattern quality.
  • Switch Thread Brand — remap entire palette to a different thread brand.
  • Remove Unused Colors — one-click removal of all colors with zero stitches.
Palette Tools menu — Adjust, Simplify, Switch Brand, Remove Unused

Sorting & view modes

The palette supports multiple layouts and sort orders, accessible from the dropdown at the bottom.

View modes:

  • List — full rows with color swatch, name, and stitch count.
  • List (compact) — tighter spacing, more colors visible.
  • Grid — 4-column grid of swatches.

Sort orders:

  • By Name — alphabetical.
  • By Stitch Count — most-used colors first.
  • By Hue — color spectrum order.
  • Manual — drag-and-drop reordering.

Manual order is saved with your pattern and used in PDF exports when Legend Sort is set to "Manual."

Context menu

Right-click any color swatch for quick actions:

Single color:

  • Edit Color — open the Edit Color panel.
  • Select All Stitches — select every stitch using this color.
  • Replace with a Color... — open the color browser for a replacement.
  • Remove Color — replace stitches with the closest-looking match, then delete.

Multiple colors selected:

  • Merge N selected colors — open the merge panel.
  • Delete N selected colors — remove all selected colors (stitches merge to closest matches).

Tips & gotchas

  • Q / E to cycle colors. Quick way to switch active color without clicking.
  • If two colors are very similar, symbols become essential. Make sure each has a distinct symbol, especially for B&W printing.
  • After swapping colors, sanity-check with Overlay (U). Compare against the original to make sure you're happy.
  • If a swap made things worse: Undo. Every color operation is one-step undoable.
  • Prefer merging least-used colors first. Reduces confetti without ruining detail.
  • If your palette feels out of control: Use Palette Tools → Simplify Colors.
  • Replace is for thread shopping. When you know exactly which thread you want, Replace lets you search the full catalog.
  • Merge is for simplifying. When your palette has too many similar shades, merge them down.
  • Legend comments show up in PDF. Check the PDF export after adding comments — they appear in the legend table.
  • Remove Unused is always safe. It only deletes colors with zero stitches — no stitches are affected.
  • Manual sort = manual PDF legend. If you want the PDF legend in a specific order, switch to Manual sort and drag colors into position.