Needlepoint kits rarely show your own dog, house or garden. This tool turns any photo into a counted tent-stitch chart sized for the canvas you will buy, with real thread numbers and amounts, so you can stitch something nobody else has.
How it works
- Choose a photo. Drop, paste or pick a picture; phone photos, including HEIC, are fine.
- Set size, colours and palette. Width in stitches, a maximum number of colours, and DMC®, Anchor or generic wool shades.
- Pick your mesh. In the advanced options choose 10, 12, 13, 14 or 18-mesh; the finished size and thread amounts follow.
- Download. A PDF with cover page, colour key, numbered chart pages and the editable project inside, plus PNG, SVG, OXS and a shopping list.
Tips for a great needlepoint pattern from a photo
Match the mesh to the subject. Needlepoint stitches are fairly large, so detail costs canvas. Faces, lettering and fine fur want 18-mesh or a large width; bold graphic subjects such as a house, a flower or a stylised animal look excellent on 12 or 13-mesh and are much quicker to cover. Decide which you will buy before you set the width.
Crop hard. Needlepoint pieces are usually small objects: a cushion, a keyfob, a coaster, a belt. Crop the photo to the subject so every stitch earns its place, and use the crop sliders rather than leaving a wide background that eats thread and time.
Fewer, clearer colours. On canvas, shades that differ slightly merge into one, and every extra colour is another skein to buy. Start at 16 to 24 colours. If the stitchability tips mention many rarely used colours, set “merge colours used fewer than N times” to fold them into their neighbours.
Use confetti cleanup generously. Single stitches of a lone colour are fiddly in tent stitch because each one needs its own start and finish on the back. Medium or Strong cleanup keeps edges and highlights but removes most of the scatter, which makes the chart far more pleasant to work.
Plan the background as its own colour. Remove a busy photo background in the advanced options and fill it with one colour in the editor. A plain background in basketweave is restful to stitch and keeps the canvas square.
Think about wear. Cushions and chair seats are rubbed and sat on. Wool is the traditional choice for hard-wearing pieces; stranded cotton gives more sheen and colour range for pictures and ornaments.
Check the realistic view. The preview draws slanted tent stitches over canvas threads. Step back from the screen: if the subject reads clearly, the stitched piece will too.
After you download
Mount the canvas on a frame before you start, stitch the main subject first and the background last, and follow the chart in the stitch tracker to mark off areas as you go.
What you get
| Sizes | 20–400 stitches wide from a photo; editor up to 2,000 × 2,000 |
|---|---|
| Colours | 2–120, matched by CIEDE2000 colour difference |
| Palettes | DMC, Anchor, Generic yarn (48 named yarn shades) |
| Downloads | PDF (cover, colour key, numbered chart pages, optional colour pages), PNG, SVG, shopping list CSV, .cpat project |
| Files accepted | JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, AVIF, iPhone HEIC; .cpat and OXS patterns; PDFs made by CraftPatterns |
| Privacy | Runs in your browser. Images are never uploaded. |
| Price | Free — no sign-up, no watermark |
How it compares with other free tools
What you can expect here, every time — no tiers, no trial.
| Free printable PDF | Yes, with no watermark |
|---|---|
| Sign-up needed | No |
| Image uploaded to a server | No — processed on your device |
| Editor | Yes — pencil, fill, line, rectangle, mirror, undo |
| Progress tracker | Yes — free, works offline |
| Switch the same pattern to another craft | Yes — one tap |
Frequently asked questions
Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
No. The conversion runs in your browser on your own device. The photo never leaves it, and saved projects are stored in your browser too.
How wide should my needlepoint chart be?
Work out the width you want in inches and multiply by the mesh. A 14-inch cushion front on 13-mesh is 182 stitches wide; on 18-mesh it would be 252. For pet portraits aim for at least 120 stitches across the animal itself so the eyes and muzzle have enough detail.
Can I choose wool instead of stranded cotton?
Yes. Switch the palette to generic yarn shades for tapestry or crewel wool, or keep DMC® or Anchor numbers for stranded and pearl cotton. The thread amounts are given in metres either way.
Why does the chart cover the background too?
Needlepoint traditionally covers every hole of the canvas. If you remove the background in the advanced options, those squares are left empty so you can fill them with a background colour of your choice, or with a decorative stitch.
What does the stitchability score mean?
It rates how pleasant the chart will be to stitch, from 0 to 100, based on isolated single stitches, colour changes, rarely used colours and colour count. Up to two plain-English tips suggest what to change, such as more confetti cleanup or fewer colours.
Can I edit the chart before downloading?
Yes. Press Edit to tidy eyes and outlines, merge colours or draw extra detail; the thread amounts and PDF update with every change.
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