Converting a Photograph (or other picture) to Cross Stitch

As the title of this post states, I'm going to talk about converting images to cross stitch, but, before I get going, I want to mention something.

The X-Factor.

Why, I hear you ask? It's simple really. If you've ever watched The X-Factor you will know that there is always someone who auditions and thinks they're the best singer in the world - whereas, in reality they're simply awful and should never be allowed to sing again.

That's how I feel about some cross stitch conversions I've seen. They are simply awful. No detail and barely recognisable as the original image. But, for some unknown reason, people still stitch them.

Maybe people think that it will be better once stitched. 

IT WON'T.

If the image looks bad in the picture it's going to look the same when stitched. So, I want to attempt to help people understand this a bit more. Don't get me wrong, I'm no expert - there are plenty of people out there converting images with incredible results (see my review on Paine Free Crafts). There's also the incredibly popular (but overrated in my book) Heaven and Earth Designs (or HAED to those in the know).

Ok, let's get started.

I'd like to introduce you all to my beautiful cat Faith. Sadly she passed away a few years ago - but I'm sure she'd be very pleased to be the star of this post.

I took this beautiful photo in our garden years ago and it's always been one of my favourites. This is obviously the original photo.

For conversions I use Easy Cross Enterprise (which can be found here). It's not the best program on the market (I think that honour probably goes to Cross Stitch Professional which can be found here). But, compared to many of the free or very cheap programs out there Easy Cross is easily the best.

Prices are very different between these programs. I've been using EasyCross for years, but will definitely be buying Cross Stitch Pro when I can afford it.

So, I decided to convert the photo of faith at a reasonably manageable count of 18. A lot of the very detailed designs go for a much higher count (25 for example) and I will be giving an example of that too.

Ok. Here's the first example. 18ct. 22x18 inches. 35 Colours.

Now, this conversion is a BIG design. But, at 18 count the bigger the design the better the detail in my experience. Still lots of detail on Faith. The grass isn't quite as good as it could be - but with more time it could be. But, let's try to reduce the colours even more:

This is 20 colours and you can see that the definition is beginning to fade. More blocks of solid colour and less variation.

Let's reduce even more:

 This is 14 colours and there is even more loss. Yes, this still looks like faith; but the detail is really at a minimum.

Let's try something different: a smaller design. Many people don't want to do huge designs, they want a more sensible size...and that's where many problems can arise.

This version is still at 18ct. 11x9 inches with 40 colours!

Compare this one to the one above. This one is 40 colours, the one above is only 14, but because this one is much smaller most of the detail is lost. This is the sort of bad conversion I see all the time on facebook - or worse!

But, let's move on.

Now, I'm going to show you Faith at 25ct. 15x12 inches (still a manageable size in my opinion). 

This version has 67 colours (no more than many HAED designs):

The difference is instantly there for all to see. Amazing detail and subtle shading. Practically photo-realistic.

Here's another. Same size, same count, but colours reduced to 50:

Still looks good doesn't it? You can mainly see the difference around Faith's nose.

Finally, we have the same count and size but only 40 colours:

This time there's barely any change to Faith. Mostly the greens in the grass have been affected.

Hopefully, I've demonstrated that it's possible to get excellent results and still keep your design to a reasonable size. It's doesn't have to be massive to look good.

BUT...there is something you also should know. No matter how few colours, there's still going to be a lot of confetti stitches (that's those pesky isolated ones). It's the confetti stitches that help to create the shading and details. It's an inevitable effect of converting a picture and keeping the detail. Even the best companies out there still can't avoid confetti, so, if you hate it don't even bother to attempt a design of this type.

Just remember: 

Higher count fabric, more colours, bigger design the better your design will be.

But, also the photograph you start with MUST be of good quality. Don't expect miracles from pixellated, blurry or tiny pictures - you'll just get awful charts. You need a high quality, sharp photograph or image.

 

Likewise, if you go for small your finished design is going to look bad. Sorry, no sugar coating it.

The trick is to get the balance just right so you're happy with the results.

HAPPY STITCHING!