Can a gradient blend more than two colors?

Yes. Select two or more colors in your palette (Cmd/Ctrl+click to add them one at a time, or Shift+click for a range) and the gradient blends all of them in that order, from the start of your drag to the end. Up to 32 colors.

How does a gradient work if a stitch can only be one color?

A stitch is always one thread color, so the gradient scatters stitches of the two nearest colors, with more of one and fewer of the other as you move along. From normal viewing distance your eye reads it as a smooth change, just like shading stitched by hand.

Which end of my drag is which color?

The first color you selected in the palette sits where you start dragging and the last where you stop. With just primary and secondary, the secondary is at the start and the primary at the end. Hold Alt while dragging to flip it.

Can I control where the middle colors sit?

Yes. Click the ramp of colors in the tool options to open the stop editor, then drag a middle color earlier or later in the blend. The first and last colors stay at the ends of your drag.

Why does nothing happen when I click without dragging?

A gradient needs a direction and a distance, so a click or a very short drag is ignored. Drag a little further and the preview appears.

Does the gradient replace my whole pattern?

Only if nothing is selected. With a selection, the gradient stays inside it and the rest of the pattern is left alone. Select the area first if you only want to shade part of your design.

Gradient Tool

Shade a sky, a petal or a background by blending two or more thread colors across it. Drag to set the direction, pick the shades, and Stitchmate places the stitches.

Where to find it: Left toolbar → Fill dropdown → Gradient

Keyboard & modifiers

Shift (while dragging, Linear): Snap the gradient angle to 15° increments
Shift (while dragging, Radial): Force a perfect circle instead of an ellipse
Alt (while dragging): Invert the gradient direction
Right-click drag: Erase with a gradient falloff
Space: Pan the canvas

Basics

A flat block of one color can make a sky, a pond or a background look like a sticker. The Gradient tool shades it for you: a sky that fades toward the horizon, a petal that goes from deep to pale, a sunset glowing out from the sun. You drag across the area, and it places the stitches of two or more threads so the colors blend from one end to the other.

You'll find it in the Fill dropdown in the left toolbar, next to the Fill tool.

A selected sky area: four blues picked in the palette, one drag from top to bottom, and the sky shades from deep blue to pale

Quick start

Select the area you want to shade. Without a selection, the gradient covers the whole pattern.
Open the Fill dropdown and choose Gradient.
Pick the colors: your primary and secondary for a simple blend, or Cmd/Ctrl+click several shades in the palette.
Drag from where the blend should start to where it should end. Hold Shift for a straight angle, Alt to flip it.
Let go to place the stitches. Cmd/Ctrl+Z removes the whole gradient in one step.

Which gradient for which look

You want…	Try
A sky or water fading toward the horizon	Select it, pick 3–5 blues light to dark, drag top to bottom (Linear)
A glow, a sun, or a round, lit shape	Radial, warm shades bright to dark, drag outward from the center
Shading on one shape, like a petal	Select the shape and drag in the direction the light falls
A soft edge into the background	One color with no secondary, short drag across the edge (more)
Even stripes or bands	Two colors, Mirror repeat, a short drag
To fade out part of an area you've filled	Right-click drag to erase with a falloff

How blending works

A stitch is one thread color. You can't mix floss in a square the way you mix paint, so the gradient does what stitchers have always done by hand: it scatters stitches of two neighboring colors, mostly the first at one end, mostly the second at the other, and a changing mix in between. From a normal viewing distance your eye blends them into a smooth change.

Up close every gradient looks speckled. That's expected, so zoom out to judge it.

The same blue-to-white sky twice: zoomed out it reads as a smooth fade, zoomed in you see the scattered stitches of each shade

Choosing the colors

Two colors: with nothing selected in the palette, the gradient blends your secondary color, at the start of your drag, into your primary, at the end. Hold Alt while dragging to swap ends.

More than two: select the shades in the palette and the gradient blends all of them, in that order, spread evenly along your drag. Up to 32 colors.

Cmd/Ctrl+click adds colors one at a time, in the order you click. Click light to dark (or dark to light) on purpose.
Shift+click picks a run of neighboring colors in one go. Handy when your palette is sorted by color family.

While two or more colors are selected, the tool options show them as a ramp and the gradient uses the ramp instead of primary and secondary. While you drag, the direction arrow is drawn in the ramp's colors, so you can check the order before you let go. Click Clear beside the ramp to go back to primary and secondary.

Three to five shades from one thread family usually blend best. Neighboring shades of the same color dither into smooth shading, while very different colors look speckled.

Cmd/Ctrl+clicking four greens in the palette, light to dark, then one drag across a selected leaf

Adjusting stop positions

By default each color gets an equal share of the blend. To give one more room, click the ramp in the tool options to open the stop editor:

Drag a middle color's slider to move it earlier or later. The first and last colors stay at the two ends of your drag.
Reverse flips the ramp end to end, keeping the spacing.
Even spreads the colors equally again.

For example, push a dark shade late and the area stays light for longer, then drops quickly into shadow.

Changes apply to your next drag. If you select a different set of colors, the spacing goes back to even.

The stop editor open on a four-color ramp, with the third color dragged toward the end so the light colors cover most of the blend

Linear vs radial

Pick the shape of the blend in the tool options:

Linear runs in a straight line along your drag. Use it for skies, water, horizons and shading from one side.
Radial spreads out in rings from where you start dragging, and how far you drag sets its size. Use it for glows, suns, spheres and anything lit from one point. Hold Shift for a perfect circle instead of an oval.

Linear and Radial side by side, the same three oranges and the same drag across a square area

Repeat modes

Repeat in the tool options decides what happens past the ends of your drag:

Normal: the blend runs once, and the area beyond each end stays in the end color. Most of the time this is what you want.
Repeat: the blend starts over again and again, giving stripes with a hard edge where each one restarts.
Mirror: the blend goes back and forth, so the bands flow into each other with no hard edge.

A short drag with Repeat or Mirror is a quick way to fill an area with bands.

Normal, Repeat and Mirror side by side, each from the same short drag with two colors

Fading out and erasing

Fade one color into what's there. With no secondary color and nothing selected in the palette, the gradient fades one color out: the stitches thin out along your drag, and the stitches already in the empty spots stay as they were. Use it to soften the edge of a filled area into its background.

Fade out stitches. Right-click and drag, or turn on the eraser, and the same falloff clears stitches instead: most cleared at one end, untouched at the other. Erasing uses one falloff whatever colors you have picked, so the ramp is hidden while the eraser is on.

Shading just one area

Without a selection, the gradient covers the whole pattern. Select the area first (a petal, the sky, a background) and the gradient stays inside it, leaving the rest of your design alone. See Selection.

However big the gradient, it's one undo step.

Tips & gotchas

Nothing happens on a click. Drag a little further; very short drags are ignored.
Colors you didn't expect? The palette selection is shared with other tools, such as merging colors. A leftover selection becomes the ramp, so click Clear beside it.
More colors isn't always better. With many colors, each gets a short stretch and the blend looks busy.
Zoom out to judge. Up close, every gradient looks speckled.
Select first unless you really want the whole pattern shaded.