| You have… | Start with |
|---|---|
| A photo or a picture you love | From a photo |
| A chart PDF you bought | From a PDF chart |
| A pattern from another stitching program | From a pattern file |
| An idea and nothing else | From a blank grid |
Getting Started
New to Stitchmate? What you can make, the four ways to start a pattern (a photo, a PDF chart, a pattern file or a blank grid), and where your patterns, palettes, motifs and threads live.
- Where to find it
- Home (the screen Stitchmate opens on)
Keyboard & modifiers
- Cmd+FCtrl+F
- Search the pattern list (or palettes, on the Palettes tab)
Welcome
Stitchmate turns photos and ideas into charts you can stitch, and keeps track of your stitching once you start. You can open it in any browser, on a computer, tablet or phone.
It opens on Home: your library of patterns, and the place to start a new one. When a handbook page says "Home → Create", it means the Create button here.
What you can make
Patterns for cross stitch, needlepoint, diamond painting and fuse beads. You can turn a photo of your dog into a chart, design a sampler stitch by stitch, bring in a pattern you bought, or tidy up one from another program.
Once a pattern is open you can recolor it, clean it up, add backstitch and text, print it as a PDF chart, and mark stitches off as you work.
Making and editing patterns is free, and so is the Progress Tracker. You only pay when you download a printable PDF.
Four ways to start
On your first visit these choices fill the Patterns tab under Make your first pattern, along with a row of example patterns you can open and explore. After that, click Create (the + beside the Patterns heading) to see them again.
You can also skip the buttons altogether: drop a photo or a pattern file anywhere on Home, and Stitchmate opens it the right way.
From a photo
Click Choose a photo (or From an image in the Create panel). You see your photo as a chart right away, then choose the size, how many colors, and your thread brand. JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, HEIC/HEIF and TIFF all work. Image Import walks through it step by step.
From a PDF chart
Bought a pattern as a PDF and want to stitch it from your tablet, or tick off stitches as you go? PDF pattern reads the chart into a real Stitchmate pattern. It works on charts drawn with symbols; scans and photographed pages can't be read. See PDF Import.
From a pattern file
Stitchmate opens files from other stitching programs:
- MacStitch / WinStitch (.oxs), PCStitch (.pat), Pattern Maker (.xsd), Stitchly (iPad / iPhone) (.stitchly).
- Stitchmate backup (.stitchmate): a pattern you saved from Stitchmate, opened exactly as it was.
- Aseprite pixel art (.aseprite, .ase). If the file has several frames, you pick one.
Not sure whether a file will open? Hover its row in the Create panel to see what it takes and what it can't read.
From a blank grid
For designing your own: pick a size and fabric count, then draw it stitch by stitch. Prefer to learn on something finished? Open sample pattern in the Create panel, or one of the examples on the first-visit page, gives you a ready-made pattern to explore.
Where your stuff lives
Everything you make or save sits in the tabs along the top of Home (at the bottom of the screen on a phone).
| Tab | What's in it |
|---|---|
| Patterns | Everything you've made or imported |
| Motifs | Small designs you've saved, plus built-in ones, ready to stamp into any pattern |
| Palettes | Sets of colors you like, built from a color chart, a photo, or a file |
| Stash | The threads you own, and what each pattern still needs |
| Tools | Calculators, color charts and generators |
In the Mac and Windows app, Patterns has two places: On this computer (pattern files in your folders) and In my account.
Coming back to a pattern
When you come back, the Patterns tab starts with Pick up where you left off: the pattern you had open last, one click away. If you left a photo conversion halfway, Finish converting lets you carry on where you were.
Below that is your library. Click a pattern to Open in Editor, Export PDF, or Track progress. Each pattern's ⋮ menu has the everyday jobs: rename, duplicate, share, delete. To tidy up several at once, use Select, and group patterns into collections from the toolbar above the list.
Searching your patterns
Looking for one pattern in a long list? Click the search icon (Search) and type part of its name, or press ⌘F on a Mac (Ctrl+F on Windows) to jump straight into the search. Click the icon again to clear the search.
On the Palettes tab the same key searches your palettes. On screens without a Stitchmate search, the key opens your browser's own find bar as usual.
Getting help
Click Help in the top-right corner of Home or the editor:
- Handbook opens this handbook in a new tab, so your pattern stays open. In the photo converter it offers the page for the step you're on.
- Report a problem… tells us about a bug, and Your reports is where you follow up on it.
- Feedback, Feature Ideas, Bugs opens the public board where you can suggest and vote on ideas.
In the editor, Help → Keyboard Shortcuts (or ⌘/ / Ctrl+/) lists the keys. The Keyboard Shortcuts page has the same list with more detail.
What next
- Image Import: turn a photo into a pattern.
- PDF Import: bring in a chart PDF you bought so you can track it.
- Editing Colors: change threads and tidy up the palette.
- PDF Export: print a chart, or make one to sell.
- Progress Tracker: mark stitches off as you work.
- Canvas Navigation: zoom and move around a pattern.
Tips & gotchas
- Drop files anywhere. You don't have to find the right button: drop a photo or a pattern file on Home and it opens the right way.
- The Handbook opens in a new tab. Close it when you're done; your pattern is still where you left it.
- Can't find a pattern in the desktop app? Check both On this computer and In my account.
- Sign in to see your patterns everywhere. Your account keeps your patterns, so you can open them on your other devices.
- ⌘F / Ctrl+F only takes over when a search is on screen. Elsewhere it's the browser's find, as usual.