Photo to cross stitch pattern makers compared: which leaves the least confetti?
Published · Photo Pattern Maker
With the same four photos at 80 stitches wide and up to 20 DMC colors, 0.14% to 0.27% of the stitches in Photo Pattern Maker's charts were lone (confetti): stitches with no stitch of their color beside them. FlossCross: 8.0% to 30.6%; Pic2Pat: 6.9% to 26.8%; Stitchmate: 3.7% to 10.3%; Xstitchify: 6.1% to 27.5%. We make Photo Pattern Maker, so the settings, dates and maps are all below for you to check.
Lone stitches in each chart
The share of each chart's stitches with no stitch of the same color directly above, below, left or right, and how many that is. The other tools were run on 2026-10-31; ours on 2026-11-02.
| Tool | Poodle | Portrait | House | Kingfisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photo Pattern Maker | 0.14% (9 of 6,400) | 0.27% (17 of 6,400) | 0.25% (12 of 4,800) | 0.19% (12 of 6,400) |
| FlossCross | 30.6% (1,956 of 6,400) | 14.4% (924 of 6,400) | 24.8% (1,188 of 4,800) | 8.0% (515 of 6,400) |
| Pic2Pat | 26.8% (1,630 of 6,084) | 11.1% (678 of 6,084) | 10.3% (473 of 4,602) | 6.9% (418 of 6,084) |
| Stitchmate | 10.3% (657 of 6,400) | 5.4% (346 of 6,400) | 8.1% (391 of 4,800) | 3.7% (237 of 6,400) |
| Xstitchify | 27.5% (1,759 of 6,400) | 10.2% (654 of 6,400) | 10.3% (496 of 4,800) | 6.1% (388 of 6,400) |
The poodle: lone stitches in red
The portrait: lone stitches in red
Why do lone stitches matter?
A lone stitch, or confetti, is a single stitch of a color with none of that color beside it: you start a thread, make one cross and finish it off again. On an 80 × 80 chart, 30% confetti is about 1,920 such stitches; 0.2% is about 13.
Fewer isn't free: folding a lone stitch into the color around it can lose a one-stitch detail. We keep a lone stitch that stands out from everything around it, like the light in an eye, and fold in the rest.
Settings each tool got
- Photo Pattern Maker: 80 stitches wide and up to 20 DMC colors (the defaults), the photo shrunk to 600 pixels on its long side as the site does in your browser.
- FlossCross (2026-10-31): From Image, chart width 80, DMC palette with a maximum of 20 colors, then Finish on its Reduce colors step with the count at 20. The only other options on that step switch the canvas and crosses on and off.
- Pic2Pat (2026-10-31): 11-count fabric, 7.2 inches wide (78 stitches, the closest it offers to 80), all colors, photo, then of the patterns it offers the one with 20 colors.
- Stitchmate (2026-10-31): The Small (80) size preset and 20 colors; everything else, its detail slider included, at the default.
- Xstitchify (2026-10-31): No account; 14-count, 80 stitches on the longest side, up to 20 colors, photo mode, DMC.
Where are the other tools better?
Prices and free terms as their sites listed them on 2026-10-31.
- FlossCross is free from photo to PDF with no account, and opens the chart in an editor where you can change stitches one by one, so you can clean up confetti by hand.
- Stitchmate also has a stitch editor. Designing and the PNG and PDF previews are free; a pattern is $7.99, 5 for $12, 10 for $20, or 30 days for $14.99.
- Pic2Pat's PDF is free.
- Xstitchify makes as many patterns as you like with PNG previews and gives 5 PDFs on sign-up; then credit packs from $9 for 30, or $9.99 a month for unlimited downloads.
- Photo Pattern Maker has no stitch editor: you change a chart by changing the crop, the width or the number of colors.
What this test doesn't show
How close each chart's colors look to the photo, which is partly taste; how fast each tool is; or how its PDF reads. Lone stitches are a count anyone can repeat. How we test photo to pattern makers has the photos, the counting rule and what could tilt the result.
What it costs here
The color preview is free, your first pattern is free with no sign-up, and a new account gets 5 more. After that the full pattern is $1.99 on its own, or from $0.20 a pattern with credits ($4.99 for 15). Credits never expire.
What's new on this page
- First published: four photos through five tools, every lone stitch counted.
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