Cross Stitch
Your memories, made by hand

Make a cross stitch pattern from your photo

A favorite face. A much-loved pet. Our cross stitch pattern maker turns the photos that mean something to you into a chart you can stitch yourself.

Try for free

Upload a photo and see your pattern in seconds. No account needed to preview.

Slide to compare. Made with our pattern maker at maximum detail: 300 × 240 stitches, up to 50 DMC colors, shown as finished stitches.

Interactive pattern maker

Convert your photo into a DMC pattern

Upload a portrait, pet or landscape. The studio opens with your photo: crop it, choose the size and colours, and check the printable PDF. No account needed until you download.

Rather chart it yourself? Start from a blank grid

How it works

What our cross stitch pattern maker does with your photo

It lays a grid over your photo and turns every square into one cross, with one DMC thread color and one symbol. Three steps, and you only pay at the last one.

  1. Choose and crop your photo

    Pick a sharp photo with one clear subject, crop it, and erase a busy background if you want it left unstitched.

  2. Set the width and colors

    10 to 300 stitches wide, 2 to 50 DMC colors. The preview updates with every change and shows the finished size on Aida 14, 16 and 18. Edit single stitches by hand if you like.

  3. Download your printable PDF

    A cover page, a thread list and symbol chart pages, for Letter or A4.

    1 credit per new pattern. Repeat downloads of the same pattern cost nothing.

Pricing

Pay per pattern. Save with a pack.

Previewing is free. You pay only when you download a new pattern.

Your first pattern is free Sign up and get 1 credit. No card needed.

Make my pattern
Recommended

3 patterns

One for you, two to give

$12.99USD

$17.97 if bought one by oneSave 27%

$4.33 per pattern

Buy 3 patterns
Best value

6 patterns

For the whole family

$19.99USD

$35.94 if bought one by oneSave 44%

$3.33 per pattern

Buy 6 patterns
  • One-time payment
  • No subscription
  • Credits never expire
  • Free edits and re-downloads

Prices in USD, excluding tax: VAT or sales tax is added at checkout where it applies. Payments by Paddle, our merchant of record. By buying you agree to the Terms of Service and the Refund Policy.

What every pattern includes and how credits work

Which fits you

Online pattern maker, software, app or designer: which one fits you?

Choose an online pattern maker when you want a chart from a photo today without installing anything. Choose software or a designer when your chart needs backstitch, knots or fractional stitches.

This tool

Our online pattern maker

Install needed
No, runs in a browser on phone or computer
See the whole chart before paying
Yes, free and without an account
How you pay
Per pattern, no subscription
Edit stitches and add text
Brush, fill, eraser and lettering
Backstitch and French knots
No, full crosses only

Best forPortraits, pets and keepsake photos

Desktop cross stitch software

Install needed
Yes, on a computer
See the whole chart before paying
In a trial, if there is one
How you pay
Usually a program license
Edit stitches and add text
Usually
Backstitch and French knots
Usually

Best forPeople who draw and edit charts by hand

Phone and tablet apps

Install needed
Yes, from an app store
See the whole chart before paying
Depends on the app
How you pay
Depends on the app
Edit stitches and add text
Depends on the app
Backstitch and French knots
Depends on the app

Best forSimple designs on a small screen

A commissioned designer

Install needed
No
See the whole chart before paying
After you order
How you pay
Per commission
Edit stitches and add text
On request
Backstitch and French knots
On request

Best forComplex pieces with backstitch or special stitches

Photo
A mother, a father and their daughter cheek to cheek, evenly lit against a plain green background
Stitched
The same family as finished cross stitches on Aida cloth: 200 stitches wide, one DMC thread color per cross

Made with this pattern maker: 200 × 160 stitches, 31 DMC colors. The PDF lists every stitch as a symbol chart.

Better photos, better charts

Which photos make the best patterns?

Sharp, well-lit photos with one clear subject make the cleanest charts.

  • In focus

    The face or animal is sharp, and so are the eyes.

  • Soft, even light

    No harsh flash or deep shadows across the face.

  • Plain background

    Or one you can crop or erase most of.

Dark evening snapshots and busy backgrounds turn into scattered single crosses of many colors, which are slow to stitch.

Photo to pattern →Pet portraits →Portrait patterns →

What will you stitch?

Each page explains how to prepare that kind of picture and opens the same pattern maker.

From a photo

Words & letters

Size & style

Guides

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Credits, colors, limits and what happens to your photo.

Is the cross stitch pattern maker free to use?

Previews cost nothing. You can upload a photo, crop it, change the size and the number of colors, and look through the whole chart without an account. Downloading the printable PDF uses credits: you get 1 free credit when you sign up with Google, each new pattern uses 1 credit, and repeat downloads of the same pattern cost nothing. No credit card is needed to sign up.

Do I need to download software or an app?

No. The pattern maker runs in your web browser on a computer, tablet or phone, so there is nothing to install and nothing to update. Previews are calculated on your own device, which is why the chart changes as soon as you move a setting.

Which floss colors does the pattern maker use?

It matches your photo against 489 DMC six-strand cotton floss colors, taken from the MakeBead craft-color-codes dataset (CC BY 4.0). You decide how many of them a chart may use, from 2 to 50. The PDF lists every thread by its DMC number and name, with the number of stitches for each color.

Can I edit the chart, remove the background or add lettering?

Yes. After the chart is built, Edit stitches opens a brush, an eraser, a fill and a color picker, plus a text tool with several fonts for names and dates, and you can swap any thread for another DMC color. Remove the background lets you erase parts of the photo with a brush or a magic wand, and restore anything you erased by mistake; erased parts stay as bare fabric. What the maker does not have is backstitch, French knots or fractional stitches: every chart is made of full cross stitches, so add outlines or knots by hand, or ask a designer.

What happens to my photo?

While you try settings, the preview is worked out in your browser. When you unlock a new PDF, we keep a reduced copy of your cropped photo (a JPEG of at most 1024 pixels, without camera or location data) and the pattern settings. We use them only to improve our patterns and pages, and we never share, sell or publish your photos. Our privacy page explains the details.