Turn a photo into a cross-stitch chart
Pixel grids are stitch grids — a photo downsampled to cells and a small palette is a workable pattern.
Tools used in this guide
The job
Cross-stitch patterns are grids of colored squares with a legend. A photo → chart means choosing the grid size (stitches across), the palette size (thread colors), and rendering each cell a clean block with a symbol.
Grid and colors
Pick the image, set grid width/height (2–200 cells), and color count (2–24). The preview renders the chart and a legend listing each palette color with its stitch count.
Worked example
A 640×480 photo at 40×40 with 8 colors makes a 1,600-stitch chart — a weekend project. The same photo at 120 cells and 16 colors is a 14,400-stitch wall piece with noticeably better shading.
Where it stops
Palette is generic RGB quantization, not a DMC thread catalog — pick actual floss by eye or a separate matcher. Faces lose detail fast at small grids; higher cell counts are kinder.