FFSMC Cross Stitch Lab, from photo to cross-stitch chart

It turns a photo into a cross-stitch chart ready to stitch. You choose the picture, the software prepares it, picks the threads closest to its colours from your brand’s shade card and draws the chart square by square. You can then edit it and print it with its key and shopping list.

Yes. The wizard takes you through four steps (Photo, Style, Size and fabric, Threads), and you can go back to any of them by clicking its name without losing anything. The software recommends the number of strands and the needle size for your fabric, and the built-in manual includes a little stitcher’s guide.

The Complete edition, for most of you: it has everything, including the artistic styles, old photo restoration and colourising. The Essential edition is enough if you mainly want charts that stay true to your photos: it has the True photo style, every shade card, every fabric, framing, the editor and the PDF. The Studio edition is the Complete edition on three computers.

Yes, for seven days, with every feature unlocked and no limits. The days left are shown in a small pink badge at the bottom of the home screen.

The software only shows a screen with two buttons: activate a licence you have bought, or buy one. Your saved charts stay on your computer, and you will find them untouched as soon as your licence is activated.

No. Cross Stitch Lab is made for Windows 10 and Windows 11, 64-bit. The PDF charts, on the other hand, open anywhere, on a Mac or a tablet.

Only to activate the licence, download the colourising engine and find out whether a new version exists. The software also checks the licence from time to time. The rest of the time, it works offline.

Seven: French, English, Spanish, German, Italian, Polish and Brazilian Portuguese. Change the language in File › Settings… The user manual is available in English and French.

A sharp, well-lit subject, in daylight and without backlighting. A subject that fills the picture: an embroidery is rarely more than 200 stitches wide, and small details in the distance disappear. Clear contrasts: a ginger cat on a blue sofa stitches better than a grey cat against a grey wall. A phone photo is plenty; avoid tiny pictures picked up on the internet.

The software notices by itself: a few seconds after opening, it finds the four corners of the document and sets the picture straight. If it doesn’t manage, click Place the corners myself and drag the four dots onto the corners. If the picture looks stretched, choose its real format under Document proportions.

Yes, with the Complete and Studio editions. Turn on Restore the photo: five sliders handle dust and scratches, yellowing, faded colours, the grain of the photo paper and sharpness.

Yes, with the Complete and Studio editions. The first time, the software downloads its colourising engine (about 935 MB, only once). You then choose the rendering: Natural, Vivid, Other interpretation or Soft, vintage. Bear in mind that the real colours of a black-and-white photo are lost: the software suggests plausible ones, and you can always change a thread afterwards.

True photo, black and white, sepia, monochrome, comic strip, comics, manga, ink, pencil, realistic drawing, baby, child’s drawing, watercolour, pastel, pop art, stained glass, pixel art, silhouette and outlines only. Each thumbnail shows your own photo in that style: one click is all it takes to try it. True photo is in every edition; the other eighteen are in the Complete and Studio editions.

Crop tight on the face, keep Take care of faces on (it preserves the eyes, nose and mouth) and plan at least 120 stitches wide. Always compare with the Stitched preview before creating the chart.

Try a drawn style: comic strip, manga or comics simplify busy photos and give charts that are easier to stitch, with large areas of colour that stitch up faster.

Anything from 2 to 120. Fewer colours mean a simpler chart and less shopping; more colours give finer shading. Between 20 and 40 usually gives a very beautiful result. For a photo, start with 25 to 35 colours and increase if the shading lacks finesse.

Aida (6 to 28 stitches per inch), evenweave, linen, Hardanger, canvas, plastic canvas, and Other fabric, where you type your own count. Evenweave, linen and Hardanger can be stitched over 2 threads or over 1. You also choose the fabric colour from fifteen shades, from white to black: the stitched preview takes it into account and the software avoids threads too close to the fabric.

Give the width in stitches or centimetres, and the height follows. As a guide: 60 to 80 stitches for a card or a small frame, a few evenings; 120 stitches for a lovely picture, a few weeks; 200 stitches and more for a large, very detailed piece, several months. The software shows the size in centimetres and the estimated time.

DMC (the 489 colours of Mouliné Spécial), Anchor (445), Madeira (369) and Ariadna (375). Each thread shows its equivalents in the other brands, rated identical, very close, close or approximate.

Open Chart › Convert to another brand… and choose the brand: a table shows each thread and its replacement, with the quality of the match. Click Convert; the symbols do not change.

Yes. Record your skeins in File › My threads…, then turn on Only the threads I have on the Threads step of the wizard. That way you stitch from your stash without buying anything.

The shopping list works it out for each thread, taking into account the fabric, the number of strands and an allowance for starts and finishes. It also shows what you already have and what is missing, and prints with boxes to tick at the shop.

That’s normal: every screen shows colours in its own way. The matches are calculated from the manufacturers’ reference values. Trust the thread reference, and check on the brand’s printed shade card if needed: it remains the reference.

On the Threads step, choose Subject only: the person, animal or object is found automatically and the background stays as bare fabric. For a plain-coloured background, No plain background leaves that colour unstitched, and the Tolerance sets how far neighbouring shades count as background.

Yes. On the Size and fabric step, turn on Plan a frame and choose its size: standard sizes from 10 × 15 to 70 × 100 cm, A4, A3, A2, inch sizes, round and oval frames, or Custom size… to type the inside dimensions. With Fit the chart size to the frame, the chart takes all the space available.

The software shows it in bold under the diagram: the fabric to cut, which is the frame view plus a turnover on each side. It depends on the frame, not on the size of the embroidery. For a 30 × 40 cm frame with a 5 cm turnover, for instance, you need 40 × 50 cm of fabric. Always cut at least that size, even if it means trimming when mounting.

Turn on Mount and set its width, from 1 to 15 cm. The Wider at the bottom by option widens the bottom band, which looks better balanced to the eye. The software immediately works out the space left for the embroidery.

Yes: in the editor, open Chart › Framing… or the Plan a frame… button on the Fabric tab. The window suggests the frames that fit your embroidery, from smallest to largest. The framing then appears on the first page of the PDF.

Yes, stitch by stitch. The editor has cross stitch, half stitch, quarter and three-quarter stitches, backstitch, French knots and beads, fill, lines and shapes, text, and selection with copy and paste, mirror and rotate. You can also replace a thread, merge two or change a symbol.

First choose the thread, then the Text tool (T key) or Chart › Cross-stitch text… Type your text, on one or several lines, choose from eighteen fonts, the height in stitches, bold or italic, then click Place on the chart.

Yes: on the home screen, click Design on a blank chart. Give a title, the width and height in stitches, the fabric, its count and its colour. The empty chart opens with a dozen basic threads from your favourite brand.

Ctrl + Z undoes, Ctrl + Y redoes: the software remembers your last 120 actions. And with most tools, a right-click erases instead of placing, without changing tools.

Take the Mark as stitched tool (M key) and go over the stitches you have done: they are covered with a sage-green veil. The Chart tab shows the percentage stitched. No more pencil or highlighter.

That’s normal, the conversion recalculates the whole chart. Press Ctrl + Z to go back, or reopen the saved version. To try a variant safely, first save a copy with File › Save as…

A cover with the stitched preview and the fact sheet (size, fabric, threads, stitches, strands, frame and fabric to cut), the thread key, the page plan, the chart in black symbols and, if you wish, in colour, a full-page stitched preview, the shopping checklist and your notes. A4, A3 or Letter paper, squares from 2 to 6 mm.

In your PDF reader’s print window, choose Actual size or 100 %, not “Fit to page”. The squares then keep exactly the size you chose.

It isn’t compulsory: the chart is just as easy to read on a tablet. You can also send the PDF to a friend.

Each square is a cross stitch, stitched with the thread whose symbol appears in the key. A triangle is a three-quarter stitch, a diagonal half-square a half stitch, coloured lines are backstitch to be stitched last, and circles are French knots or beads. The pink arrows at the edges of the pages mark the centre, where you start.

No. The licence is bought once, with no subscription, and the software is yours with no time limit. Updates are free for one year after purchase.

Essential €79, Complete €149, Studio €199. The Essential and Complete editions install on one computer, the Studio edition on three.

Your key arrives by email right after payment; you will also find it in your customer account on ffsmc.fr, under My licences. Open Help › Licence… in the software (or click the badge on the home screen), paste the key and click Activate, with the computer connected to the internet.

Take the Studio edition: every feature of the Complete edition, on three computers at once. Home, laptop, workroom, or the stitchers in the family.

On the old one, open Help › Licence…, click Release this computer and confirm. Then install the software on the new one and activate the same key. If the old computer is out of order, write to us with your key: we will release the licence for you.

Yes, at any time: simply activate the Complete key, and the old one is released automatically. Nothing needs reinstalling.

Check that the computer is connected to the internet and that the key is copied in full, with no space before or after. If the message says the licence is already activated on another computer, release the old one first, or write to us.

Download the installer, double-click it (it is usually in your Downloads folder), choose the language, accept the licence agreement, then click Install. Two minutes later, the FFSMC Cross Stitch Lab icon is on your desktop and in the Start menu.

Click More info, then Run anyway. This message appears for software from small publishers; it does not mean anything is wrong.

There is nothing to keep an eye on: when a new version comes out, a pink banner appears at the top of the software window. Click “See the new version”, download the installer and run it over the old version: your charts, your settings and your licence are kept. You can also check for yourself with Help › Check for updates.

The illustrated user manual is built into the software: Help › User manual, or the F1 key. For anything else, write to [email protected] describing what you were doing, with a screenshot if possible: we reply within 48 working hours. The software version is shown in Help › About.