Stitchly: Cross stitch

I have made several patterns with the paid version of the app so far and have been really happy with the ease of use. I would give the app a 5 star but the only feature I’m not happy with is the back stitch. In black and white charts, there is no way to distinguish between back stitches. Many of my patterns have multiple colors used for back stitching, but if I’m reading the black and white chart, all back stitches show as the same bold black line. Color charts are a little better in that the back stitch line is shown in the intended color, but if you have the line going over the same colored square, the line blends in. I have resorted to using a thread color a few shades darker just so that the back stitch lines are more distinguishable on the chart. I do think the paid version is well worth the money if you are making many patterns. I sell mine on Etsy, and love the many features available. All my patterns are made from art I’ve drawn digitally and then imported in, and the auto pattern creation makes things simple and quick. I import the image, do some touch ups, add back stitching, and done!

I purchased the full version of loomerly, and considered trying to use that for cross stitch too, since the apps are similar. But I decided to go for the full version of this too, since the developer seems super responsive to requests and is constantly making improvements. This is so much easier than trying to use Photoshop to make cross stitch designs from photos! It is easy to create your own patterns based on a picture that you trace, or your own imagination. Lots of colors to choose from- Palette’s include all of DMC that I know of, plus Anchor, The Gentle Art, Weeks Dye Works, plus some others, generic colors, and the option to make and edit your own palette, which I find really helpful. I love the option to rotate and mirror designs, and you can add half-stitches and backstitch outlines, too! There is an eyedropper tool, erase, paint, switch one color for another, fill, cut, copy, mirror, rotate text, and add insert/ copy to clipboard tool, so you can copy part or all of another pattern to the one you are using. You can preview the pattern using symbols or a more realistic thread look. You can also track your progress stitching your pattern, either as a whole or in sections. I also have the Markup R-Xp app (which is more for tracking your progress) but may end up using Stitchly instead because of the more intuitive, user-friendly interface and the fact that you can view both the symbols and colors of each stitch in the design at the same time.

I’ve been using this app for a few weeks now, and I’ve been very impressed with it so far. It’s easy to use and the few patterns I’ve generated so far seem to be working out really well just through the app’s own photo conversion. I’m not a print things out kind of guy, so I really like the completed stitch tracking you can do directly in the app. One wish I do have is grid numbering along the top/bottom/sides for easier stitch counting/tracking, but the way it’s set up now still works great. I also applaud the absolutely stellar customer support by the developer. My big pattern I was working started crashing my app whenever I tried to open, so I couldn’t export or do anything with it to continue the pattern. I sent feedback via the app to the dev (Harry) and he responded within hours, then sent an update through Apple so I could submit the pattern to him directly through the app, and then he pushed another update out shortly thereafter fixing my issue, all while being tremendously polite and helpful. Judging by the responses to reviews here it looks like the dev is listening and constantly working to improve the app! Very pleased with purchasing the full version!