Free tool · no sign-up
Floss gradient
Pick a start color and an end color: the tool spreads the colors between the two and finds, for each one, the closest floss in the chosen brand.
- From 3 to 9 colors
- DMC, Anchor, Madeira, Sullivans
- Difference shown for each floss
How the gradient is calculated
The in-between colors are spread evenly between the two flosses, in a color space that follows how the eye sees (CIELAB). Each one then takes the closest floss on screen (ΔE2000 difference) in the chosen brand, never using the same floss twice, and the flosses are sorted from start to end.
When the difference from the ideal color is large, no floss in the brand comes close: try fewer colors, or another brand. Screen colors are only a guide: check the gradient with real skeins.
Stitching a gradient
- In bands: one or a few rows per color, from lightest to darkest.
- By blending one strand of two neighboring colors in the needle, to soften the shift from one band to the next.
- In the editor, with the palette's variegated floss, whose color changes along the thread.
To go further than this tool: the free cross stitch software stixiva draws, converts and prints your charts, online or on Windows, and its Stitch mode tracks your stitches as you work.
Why isn't the gradient perfectly even?
A color card doesn't have a floss for every ideal color: each step takes the closest existing floss. The difference is shown for each one.
Can I mix two brands?
The gradient is built within a single brand. The floss converter then gives the equivalent of each color in another brand.
How many colors should I pick?
The tool offers 3 to 9. The more colors, the closer the steps, and the more room you need to show them.
Stitch your gradients in the editor
In the editor's palette, variegated floss changes color along the thread, and photo conversion keeps the shades that matter.
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