Cross-stitch pattern maker. One verifiable claim per feature, no marketing generalities. Everything below runs today in the free editor and the free WIP planner — where a feature is Pro-only or Beta, it says so.
Stitches
✓ Full, half, quarter, three-quarter and petit stitches
✓ Backstitch, including variable line thickness
✓ French knots
✓ Beads
Layers
✓ Up to 16 layers with visibility, opacity, lock and reordering
✓ Rotate and mirror a selection
✓ Merge selected layers, merge all visible layers, or flatten everything into one
Palettes
✓ DMC, Anchor, Madeira, Gamma, PNK, Riolis and Ljubica floss matching, plus Mill Hill, Preciosa and Kreinik bead/metallic catalogues — with automatic nearest-colour conversion between brands
✓ Custom colours outside any thread catalogue, via a built-in HSV picker
Import
✓ Import OXS and XSD patterns
✓ PDF to editable chart — Beta. Reads the grid, symbols and DMC legend of a PDF chart you own and rebuilds full cross, half, backstitch and beads; it does not detect quarter/three-quarter stitches or French knots automatically (add those by hand after import). Recognising and viewing the result is free for every account, even signed out — keeping a recognised PDF chart (saving it to .oxs, exporting PNG/PDF, or syncing it to the cloud) is a Pro feature, 20 keeps included per month.
✓ Photo to editable chart — Beta. The core — chart size, palette count, style presets, most tuning sliders — is free on every plan; the Advanced tuning and Masks panels in photo-to-pattern are Pro-only.
Export
✓ Pattern Keeper-compatible PDF export
✓ PNG export and five PDF print presets in total; watermark-free export and advanced print layout are part of the Pro plan
✓ Export your own pattern back out as OXS
Tracker
✓ WIP planner across projects — unlimited active projects, a stitching log with streak and pace goals, and a finished-work gallery
✓ Export the stitching log as CSV
Background
✓ Auto-fit a background scan or photo to its printed grid — finds the grid lines directly, not by guessing a repeating pattern
✓ Straighten a scan or photo shot at an angle — before fitting it to the grid
Quality checks
✓ Detect confetti — isolated single-stitch cells that make a chart harder to stitch — free, in the editor's Check tab and on the free pattern checker
✓ Merge confetti into neighbouring colours automatically
The editor and the WIP planner are free to use, full stop — no trial, no watermark on your working canvas.