ixo Help & Docs

Go to ixostitch.com and click “Open editor” — or jump straight to /editor.html. Loading a pattern is optional: the editor opens with an empty 30×30 canvas.

The “New” button in the top toolbar opens a modal — enter width and height in cells (up to 200×200 on Free). Already working? “Resize” changes the canvas without erasing stitches.

On the right is the palette panel. Click “+ Color” to open the DMC picker. Search by number (321) or name (Red). On the left is the vertical toolbar: cross, half cross, backstitch, bead, knot, eraser. Tooltips show on hover.

Left mouse button draws, right erases. Wheel — scroll, Ctrl/⌘+wheel — zoom, Space+drag — pan. Every action can be reverted with Ctrl+Z (Mac: ⌘+Z).

“Save” in the toolbar opens a format picker:

• OXS — the working stitching format (opens in Pattern Maker, MacStitch, FlossCross).
• PDF — print-ready pattern with cover, colour key and chart pages.
• PNG — image for previews and sharing.

If you are signed in, the pattern is also auto-saved to the cloud (3 slots on Free).

• Pattern size is set in cells, not pixels. Standard Aida 14ct gives roughly 14 cells per inch.
• Zoom: 25%–400% in 26 fixed steps. Controls: + / − in the toolbar, Ctrl/⌘+wheel on the canvas, or drag the “100%” chip in the status bar left/right (8 px = 1 step).
• The “100% / Center” button restores the natural scale and centers the canvas in the window.

Three visibility buttons live in the top-right of the toolbar:

• Grid (#) — thin lines per cell. Auto-thinned at low zooms (at 25% only every 10th cell is shown).
• Centerlines — dashed lines through the middle of the pattern. Handy for symmetrical compositions.
• Rulers — cell numbers along the top and left. At zoom ≥75% every cell is labelled, with major ticks every 5.

The moon/sun button toggles light and dark themes. The choice is saved. Canvas, grid and ruler colours adapt automatically — the stitches look the same in both themes.

In the right panel, on the “About” tab, there is a fabric card. A click opens the “Fabric” modal: pick a type (Aida 14/16/18, Lugana, Evenweave 28ct) and a colour from the Zweigart palette or a custom hex. The fabric colour affects rendering: empty cells show in that exact shade — the pattern looks like a finished piece.

Eraser (E) clears stitches in a cell. Properties: brush size (1×1, 2×2, 3×3) and target — what exactly to erase:

• All — every layer in the cell.
• Crosses — only full / half / quarter / threeq / petit.
• Backstitch — only lines.
• Beads / knots — only S.beads / S.knots.

Right mouse button works as an eraser regardless of the active tool.

Eyedropper (P) — clicking a cell makes its colour the active palette colour.

Selection (S) — a marquee for copying and transforming.

1. Drag a marquee — a rectangle appears.
2. Click inside — it turns into a “floating fragment” (lifted from the canvas and following the cursor).
3. Use the property buttons: flip H/V, rotate ±90°, copy (Ctrl+C), cut (Ctrl+X), paste (Ctrl+V), clear.
4. Click outside the selection or press Esc — the fragment commits to the canvas.

Hand (H) or holding Space — pan mode: drag the canvas, the cursor switches to a hand.

Symmetry (X) — cycles through: off → H (mirror over the horizontal axis) → V (over the vertical) → 4× (draws into all four quadrants at once: each stitch is mirrored across the centre on both axes, producing 4 copies). The current mode shows on the button (· / H / V / 4×).

The “+ Color” button opens the picker. Available palettes:

• DMC — 491 colours, the default for most patterns.
• Anchor — 445 colours, with automatic DMC mapping in the “Equivalent” column.
• Gamma, Madeira, PNK Kirovsky, Ljubica, Mill Hill (beads).

In the modal:

• Search — by number or name.
• Group filter — colour wheels (reds, blues, greens…) or series (for Mill Hill).
• Custom hex — for non-standard colours via the “Custom colour” field.
• ✦ Magic — finds the closest DMC for a given hex.
• ⊙ Eyedropper — picks a colour straight from the canvas (or the background image, if it shows through).

Clicking a swatch opens the edit modal:

• Change colour — reopens the picker.
• Blend — mix two DMC colours. Set the strand count for each (usually 1+1 or 2+1). In OXS such a colour is written as DMC 321 [+] DMC 906.
• Symbol — pick a letter or shape for the black-and-white mode. 6 groups: geometry, special, arrows, patterns, letters, digits.
• Equivalents — table showing the matching Anchor codes (or DMC if Anchor is active).
• Delete — red button in the footer. Every cell using that colour is cleared.

The same DMC can be added several times with different strand counts. For example, DMC 310 (2 strands) for the main outline and DMC 310 (1 strand) for fine detail. They are independent palindexes, but in “Floss usage” they collapse into one row.

Created via the “Create variant” button in the colour edit modal. Variants appear as grouped rows under the parent colour.

A select above the list: “Default”, “By number”, “By cross count”, “By backstitch”, “Manual”. Dragging a swatch flips sorting to “Manual” and physically reorders (stitches are renumbered automatically).

The “Floss usage” button on the “About” tab opens a per-colour calculation table. Modes (top of the modal):

• Skein fraction — estimate of how many skeins you need (1 skein = 6 strands × 8 m = 48 strand-metres).
• Metres/yards of 6-strand cord — the length of the source cord.
• Metres/yards of strands — total length of working strands (accounting for strand count).

The “Reserve” slider adds 0–50% to the result (15% by default). Sort by colour number, by usage, or manually (drag-and-drop).

The 🔍 button in the palette header runs an analysis: it looks for pairs of colours with similar symbols sitting close to each other (within 5 cells). Useful before printing a black-and-white chart, so you don’t mix up O and 0, × and +.

• Background. An uploaded image (JPEG / PNG / PDF) — a reference you draw over.
• Crosses. Every full cross, half cross, ¾ and ¼, petit.
• Backstitch. Outline lines.
• Beads / knots. Beads and french knots.

The “Layers” tab in the right panel. For every layer:

• “Eye” — show / hide the layer. Hiding does not delete data, just hides it on the canvas.
• Opacity slider — 0–100%. Transparent layers still accept clicks (you can draw “blind”, but it is not recommended).

• Hide backstitch — while drawing crosses so the lines don’t get in the way.
• Hide beads — when exporting a “crosses only” version.
• Translucent background — to see how the pattern lies over the reference image.

On the “Layers” tab — the “Upload background” button. Supported:

• JPEG, PNG — regular images.
• PDF — loads the first page. If there are several pages, a picker modal appears with thumbnails.

After loading, the button changes to “Replace background”.

Open the background for editing: click its row in the “Layers” panel (or press “Move” in properties). 8 handles appear on the canvas:

• 4 corner handles (square) — proportional resize.
• 4 side handles (round) — independent stretch along one axis.

Drag the centre of the background or the handles. Size is in cells, not pixels — the background snaps to the pattern grid.

If the background already has a drawn grid (e.g. a scan of an old pattern), use calibration:

1. Click “Calibrate” in background properties.
2. Click the top-left corner of the grid in the background.
3. Click the bottom-right corner.

The background scales automatically to fit exactly 10×10 cells of the pattern. You can resize manually afterwards.

• Opacity slider on the “Layers” tab — 0–100%.
• Precise scale — fields bg-scale-x / bg-scale-y in properties. Stretch one axis only, or link them with the lock.
• “Reset scale” — returns to 1.0.

OXS (*.oxs) — open XML format. Compatible with MacStitch, Pattern Maker (export), FlossCross, Saga, Ursa. Every layer is preserved, including blends and colour variants.

XSD (*.xsd) — HobbyWare Pattern Maker binary format. ixo fully parses the palette (including blends and custom brands), every stitch type, backstitches, knots and beads. Special stitches (special, lazy daisy) are parsed into data but not yet rendered.

How to load:

• The “Open” button in the toolbar → file dialog.
• Drop a file onto the editor canvas.
• Drop an image (JPEG/PNG) — it loads automatically as a background.
• Drop a PDF — opens as a background with page picker.

The “Save” button opens a modal with a radio format picker:

Full pattern with every layer, the palette and the background (if any). It is the working file — open it again in ixo or hand it to designers.

Print-ready stitching version:

• Cover — pattern preview, name, author, size, colour and stitch counts.
• Colour key — table with colours, DMC codes, symbols and the cross count for each.
• Chart pages — blocks of 50×70 cells with coordinates around the edges.
• Colour mode: “Color” (as in the editor) or “Black & white” (symbols only).

A picture of the entire pattern for previews. Supports “Color” / “B&W”. Useful for social media, email lists, marketplace thumbnails.

The “Copy as PNG” button copies the image to the clipboard without downloading a file.

• Pattern Maker (HobbyWare): OXS — import ✓ / export ✓; XSD — import ✓.
• MacStitch (DP Software): OXS — import ✓ / export ✓.
• FlossCross (Saga): OXS — import ✓ / export ✓.
• Ursa: OXS — import ✓ / export ✓.
• StitchSketch (iOS): OXS — import ✓.

Account: ixostitch.com/cabinet.html. Two ways to sign in:

• Google — click the button, pick an account.
• Magic link — enter an e-mail, a sign-in link arrives by mail. No passwords.

Disposable e-mail providers are not accepted.

• Patterns — up to 3 slots on Free, unlimited on Pro (when it ships).
• Profile — name, avatar, theme settings.

Independent of the account, the editor takes a local IndexedDB snapshot every 3 minutes (3 rotating slots). Restore is offered only after a crash — if you closed the tab normally, the next open starts on an empty canvas (slots are kept but not auto-restored).

A status indicator sits in the bottom-right corner: “modified” while you work, “saved N min ago” after autosave.

In the cabinet — the “Delete account” button. Removed: profile, all cloud patterns. Local autosave slots remain on the device.

Full cross (×). The base stitch: two diagonals corner-to-corner. Fills a whole cell. The most common — usually 80–95% of a pattern.

Half stitch (/, \). One diagonal. Used for backgrounds, highlights, soft transitions. / — bottom-left to top-right, \ — the reverse.

Three-quarter (¾). A full cross minus one of the four corners. Often paired with the opposite quarter of another colour for curved outlines.

Quarter (¼). A small triangle in a corner of a cell. A rare stitch used in highly detailed patterns.

Petit stitch. A full cross sized to a quarter of a cell. Used for very fine detail in faces and lettering.

Backstitch (BS). A straight segment between two grid nodes. Used for outlines, lettering, fine lines. Worked after the crosses.

French knot (FK). A small raised knot at a point. Eyes, berries, sparkles on clothes.

Bead. A bead sewn onto the fabric. ixo supports the Mill Hill catalogue.