🧵 Embroidery Stitch Planner
Plan embroidery patterns on interactive grid - place stitches, preview designs, and export stitch guides
Your Result:
20×20 Cross Stitch Design
Interactive grid with stitch placement example
Interactive Grid Preview
Click grid cells to place stitches • Use colors from palette
🧮 Pattern Statistics Example
stitches
stitches
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stitches
How to Use This Embroidery Stitch Planner
The Embroidery Stitch Planner provides an interactive grid canvas where you can design and visualize embroidery patterns before starting your physical project. This digital planning tool helps you experiment with colors, count stitches, and create professional-looking patterns.
- Set up your grid: Choose the width and height for your embroidery design (10-100 stitches in each direction). Start with smaller grids (20×20) for your first projects.
- Select stitch type: Pick from cross stitch, backstitch, French knots, or other embroidery techniques. Each stitch has a different visual representation on the grid.
- Choose your colors: Select from basic, pastel, earth tone, rainbow, or monochrome palettes. You can also define custom colors for specific thread brands.
- Design your pattern: Click grid cells to place stitches. Use different colors by selecting them from the palette. The pattern updates in real-time as you work.
- Use planning tools: Enable symmetry options for balanced designs, show coordinates for easy following, and track stitch counts for shopping lists.
- Export your work: Download your pattern as a high-resolution image, detailed stitch guide with color codes, or both formats for complete project documentation.
The tool automatically saves your progress locally, so you can return to continue working on complex patterns. Use the stitch counter to estimate thread requirements and create shopping lists for your embroidery supplies.
How It Works
The embroidery planner uses HTML5 Canvas technology to create an interactive grid system that mimics traditional embroidery charts and graph paper.
- Grid Generation: Creates a customizable grid based on your specified dimensions, with each cell representing one stitch location on your fabric.
- Interactive Placement: Mouse clicks and touch events register stitch placement, with visual feedback showing the selected stitch type and color.
- Pattern Storage: Maintains a data structure tracking stitch position, color, and type for each placed element, enabling easy modification and export.
- Visual Rendering: Renders different stitch types with appropriate symbols and colors, providing an accurate preview of your finished embroidery.
- Export Processing: Converts the canvas pattern to downloadable PNG images and generates formatted stitch guides with color legends and instructions.
- Symmetry Calculations: When enabled, automatically calculates mirrored stitch placements across selected axes for perfectly balanced designs.
All processing happens in your browser using native Canvas APIs, ensuring your patterns remain private while providing smooth, responsive interaction with grids up to 100×100 stitches.
When You Might Need This
- • Cross-stitch pattern design for beginners learning embroidery basics
- • Planning personalized samplers with names, dates, and decorative borders
- • Creating geometric patterns for modern embroidery hoop art and wall decorations
- • Designing monograms and initials for personalizing towels, pillowcases, and linens
- • Pixel art conversion for video game and pop culture themed embroidery projects
- • Planning counted thread work including blackwork and redwork traditional patterns
- • Creating holiday and seasonal motifs for Christmas ornaments and decorative pieces
- • Educational tool for teaching embroidery techniques and stitch placement in classes
- • Designing logos and text for corporate embroidery and promotional textile items
- • Planning complex multi-color landscapes and portraits using detailed stitch mapping
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of embroidery stitches can I plan with this tool?
The planner supports six common embroidery stitches: cross stitch (X pattern), half cross stitch (/ pattern), backstitch (continuous lines), French knots (textured dots), running stitch (dashed lines), and blanket stitch (decorative edges). Each stitch type has its own visual representation on the grid to help you visualize the final result. Cross stitch is the most popular for beginners due to its simple X pattern that fills grid squares completely.
How large can my embroidery pattern grid be?
The grid size ranges from 10×10 to 100×100 stitches, accommodating everything from small practice samplers to large wall hangings. A 20×20 grid is perfect for beginners and small motifs, while 50×50 or larger grids work well for detailed portraits or complex scenes. Keep in mind that larger grids require more time to complete and more thread colors for realistic designs.
Can I save my embroidery pattern to work on later?
Yes! The tool automatically saves your work to your browser's local storage as you place stitches. You can close the browser and return later to continue working on the same pattern. For permanent backup, export your completed pattern as both an image file and a detailed stitch guide that includes color codes and placement instructions.
How accurate are the thread color counts for shopping?
The stitch counter provides exact counts for each color in your pattern, which helps estimate thread requirements. However, actual thread consumption depends on your stitching technique, fabric choice, and whether you separate embroidery floss strands. Generally, plan for 10-20% extra thread than the count suggests to account for waste, mistakes, and technique variations.
Can I create symmetrical patterns automatically?
When you enable symmetry tools, you can create mirrored patterns by placing stitches that automatically reflect across horizontal, vertical, or diagonal axes. This feature is perfect for creating balanced mandalas, geometric designs, and traditional sampler borders. You can also use the rotation tools to create radial symmetry for flower patterns and decorative motifs.