Thread conversion chart
Find the closest match for any thread code in every other brand, with an honest word on how close it is.
63 brands, 36,275 colors, every pairing in both directions.
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Full DMC to Anchor conversion chart
Every DMC color beside its closest Anchor color, grouped by color family. Select a row to see the next closest matches.
Conversion charts by brand
Full two-way tables with ranked runner-ups on every row. Every DMC color also has its own page with its closest match in each major brand: start from the DMC color chart.
Every brand of embroidery floss numbers its colors differently, and none of them publish a conversion to a competitor. This page is the universal chart: pick the brand you have, and the converter shows the closest code in each brand you compare, rated in plain words. The table above is the classic DMC conversion chart — DMC against Anchor, Weeks Dye Works, Classic Colorworks, Madeira and Cosmo on one line per color — and the converter covers every other palette we hold, from Soie d'Alger to Perler beads.
What a rating cannot see
Ratings compare our sampled swatches, not skeins in your hand. Dye lots shift, fabric changes how a color reads, and sheen matters: a silk or rayon rated Interchangeable will still look brighter than the cotton it replaced because the fiber reflects more light.
Which brands convert cleanly
Stranded cotton to stranded cotton is the easy case. DMC, Anchor, Madeira, Cosmo and J&P Coats all make solid six-strand cotton with broadly similar ranges, and most of the chart rates Interchangeable or Very close. The exceptions cluster where one brand ships five steps between two shades and the other ships four — skin tones, grays, and the long blue and green runs.
Hand-dyed and overdyed floss (Weeks Dye Works, Classic Colorworks, The Gentle Art, ThreadworX, Valdani) is matched to the dominant tone of the skein. The stitched result varies by design, so treat the rating as "closest solid" rather than "same color". Most people run this direction to substitute a solid when a hand-dye is out of stock.
Silk, wool and metallics match on hue and lightness, but the finish is the point of using them. A Vineyard Silk or Silk & Ivory shade rated Interchangeable is the same color with more sheen; an Appleton crewel wool rated the same is the same color with none. Kreinik and other metallics are matched on their base tone and will always read lighter under a lamp.
Converting a whole pattern
Paste a pattern's thread list into the converter's "A list of codes" tab for a full table with a rating on every line. If you have the pattern file itself, open it — PCStitch .pat, Pattern Maker .xsd or OXS — and remap the entire palette to the new brand in one click. The editor shows before and after so a weak conversion is easy to spot and fix by hand. If you are changing brands mid-project, the DMC to Anchor page covers the dye-lot risks and where to start the substitute.
Understanding match quality
The percentage says how alike two colors look to the human eye, which is not the same as how close their code numbers are. Each band gets a plain word, so you can decide at a glance.
Different dyes and materials never match exactly. For color-critical work, such as skin tones or gradient blends, compare the real thing before you buy.
FAQ
Is there an official DMC conversion chart?
How accurate is a thread conversion chart?
Can I convert DMC to Weeks Dye Works, Gentle Art or Classic Colorworks?
Does it convert Anchor to DMC as well as DMC to Anchor?
Why do two DMC numbers convert to the same Anchor number?
Can I convert an entire pattern at once?
Starting from a photo instead?
Turn it into a pattern in any of these brands. Free to design, pay only for the PDF.