Turn Your Pet's Photo Into a Cross Stitch Pattern

A cross stitch portrait of your dog or cat makes a lovely gift, and you don't need to be an artist to chart one. In this Instructable I'll show how to turn a photo into a counted cross stitch pattern: how to pick a photo that will stitch well, how big to make it, how many floss colors to use, how to check the result before buying thread, and how to print the chart.

You can do the charting in any pattern program. I'll use Nitki, the Android app I make, because it does all of the steps in one place and shows how the finished piece will look; the first pattern is free. I'll mention what to look for if you use something else.

Disclosure: I'm the developer of Nitki.

• A clear photo of your pet (a phone photo is fine)

• A pattern program — here Nitki for Android: Nitki on Google Play

• Aida fabric (14-count is the easiest to start with)

• DMC stranded cotton in the colors from the thread list

• A tapestry needle (size 24 for 14-count), an embroidery hoop, small scissors

• A printer (optional — you can also stitch from the screen)

The photo matters more than anything else. Look for:

• One clear subject. A pet's face filling most of the frame works best.

• Good, even light. Dark photos turn into muddy browns; harsh flash flattens the fur.

• A simple background, or one you're happy to stitch. A busy background becomes noise and costs you dozens of extra colors.

• Eyes in focus. If the eyes are sharp, the portrait reads as your pet even at small sizes.

A festive background (a wreath, lights, a Santa hat) is fine if it's large and simple — it can make a great Christmas piece, like this corgi.

Crop tight around the subject, then decide the size in stitches, not inches — the fabric decides the inches.

• 130–150 stitches across is the sweet spot for a pet portrait: enough for the eyes and the fur texture.

• Below about 80 stitches across, a face loses its eyes. For a small ornament, 60 × 75 works if the photo is a simple close-up.

• On 14-count Aida, divide by 14 for inches: 140 stitches ≈ 10 in (25 cm). On 18-count the same pattern is smaller.

In Nitki you pick the photo, it finds the pet and frames it, and you set the size in stitches, centimeters or inches.

A photo has thousands of colors; your pattern needs a handful of real floss colors.

• 20–30 DMC colors keeps the shading soft on a pet portrait.

• Fewer colors (12–16) stitch faster and look more graphic; more than 35 usually means many colors used for only a few stitches.

• Make sure the program matches colors to an actual floss range (DMC, Anchor…), not just to screen colors — otherwise you can't buy the threads.

• Watch for "confetti": single isolated stitches of a different color. A good pattern cleans most of them up, because they're slow and fiddly to stitch.

This tabby became 133 × 200 stitches in 23 DMC colors.

Before you buy floss, look at a stitched preview — a picture that draws every cross as thread on fabric. The chart's flat colored squares can look fine while the stitched result is too dark or too busy; the preview shows that straight away.

If it looks muddy, try: a brighter photo, a tighter crop, or a few more colors. If the background distracts, crop it out or choose to leave it unstitched (Nitki can stitch the background in half stitches or not at all).

Your thread list should give each floss number and how many skeins you need, with a small margin. The count depends on the fabric and on how many strands you stitch with, so set those first (two strands on 14-count is the usual choice).

Tip: check your stash first. In Nitki you can mark the threads you already have, and they come off the shopping list.

Print a PDF chart with symbols, a color key and grid lines every 10 stitches. Large cells are easier on the eyes; a big portrait takes several pages, so number them.

If you prefer a tablet or phone, you can stitch from the screen and mark stitches as you go (the PDF from Nitki also opens in Pattern Keeper).

Find the center of your fabric and of the chart and start there, so the portrait ends up centered. Work one color at a time in small areas, or use the parking method for big color-changing areas like fur.

Marking finished stitches (a highlighter on paper, or a tap on the screen) saves a lot of counting mistakes. Nitki also keeps statistics: stitches per day and an estimate of when you'll finish.

• A small ornament (about 60 × 75 stitches) can be finished in a few evenings — perfect before Christmas.

• A full portrait (130–150 stitches across) framed in a hoop or a frame is a lovely memorial or birthday gift.

• Add a name and a date below the portrait.

If you try this, I'd love to see your pet's pattern in the comments!