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Stitching from a chart

Starting a project

A stitching project is a chart you are stitching, with the stitches you have done marked on it. To start one, open Charts in your account and press Start stitching on a chart. The project opens in the chart reader.

The project keeps its own copy of the chart as it was when you started. Changing the chart in the editor afterwards, or deleting it, does not change the project, until you update the project from the chart (see below).

You can also start one from a file on your device: press Add a chart on the reader's own page and choose the file. The β on the button marks this as beta: it is new and still being tried on real charts, so compare what it reads with the original. The reader opens the files this app makes: the editable chart, Export all, an OXS file, and the printable PDF, the A4 pages' ZIP or its first page, and the full chart PNG, which hold the chart they show. The file is read on your device and is not kept; only the chart read from it is saved, as a project of yours alone. A project opened from a file has no chart to update it from.

The reader also reads a PDF chart made by charting software, such as a designer's chart or the PDF for Pattern Keeper. It reads the chart from what the pages draw: the symbols on the grid, the key, half stitches and backstitch. It joins the pages into one chart. Before the project starts, it shows Check the chart before you start:

  • Each page of the original, beside the stitches read from it. Use ‹ and › to go through the pages.
  • What the reading was unsure of. For example, a size that differs from the one the file prints, pages it had to place edge to edge, or backstitch threads that look alike. Stitches it could not read for sure are outlined in red.
  • The key, where you can fix each colour's symbol, name, colour and thread. Two colours cannot share a symbol or a name.

Press Start the project when the chart matches the original, or Choose another file.

The reader also reads a chart from how it looks: a scan, a photo or a picture of a chart (JPEG, PNG, BMP or WebP), a PDF of scanned pages, or a ZIP of such pictures. It finds the stitch grid, even in a picture that is a little turned or taken at a slight angle, and groups the stitches that look alike into colours. It joins several pages into one chart where they repeat each other's stitches. The same check comes first, with more for you to do:

  • It does not read the picture's key. Each colour starts as Colour 1, Colour 2 and so on, with a piece of the picture beside it in the key. Give each its name, colour and thread. A thread such as DMC 310 also sets the colour, if the thread is in the thread systems you have.
  • It may split one colour into two, when the same symbol prints a little differently. Under Same as, say which colour it is, and the two become one.
  • It may join two near colours into one, in a picture too rough to tell their symbols apart. It says so. Compare with the original, and choose a sharper picture if you can.

This reading is not always right, so compare it with the original before you start. It works best with the whole grid in view, reasonably straight and in focus, at about 25 pixels a stitch. A picture with no stitch grid is refused, saying so. So is a black-and-white chart too small or blurred to tell its symbols apart.

← Your projects, at the top left of the reader, goes back to your projects.

The reader's own page lists the projects you are stitching, the last one you worked on first; Projects in your account lists them too. If you are not logged in, you log in right there, on the reader's own page, and your projects appear. The designer and the reader each show their name and the jay logo at the top left, with Help and your account at the top right; neither has a button that opens the other.

Marking stitches

The chart is shown in black and white with its symbols, so they are easy to read. A stitch you mark done is shown in its colour.

The reader opens on Move, so a first press only moves the chart. Choose Mark at the top, then press a stitch (or tap it with a finger) to mark it done. Dragging marks every stitch you pass over.

The reader opens Locked, so a press or a drag only marks stitches done, and a stitch you have marked stays done. To mark a stitch not done again, press Locked to unlock: then a press on a done stitch marks it not done, and a drag that starts on a done stitch marks the stitches it passes not done. The reader is locked again the next time you open it.

The top of the reader shows how many stitches are done, for example 1,234 of 5,000 stitches done (24%).

Undo and Redo step back and forward through what you marked, one press or drag at a time, locked or not. Ctrl+Z undoes and Ctrl+Y (or Ctrl+Shift+Z) redoes.

Moving and zooming

The chart moves and zooms as it does in the editor: with the scroll bars, the mouse wheel (hold Ctrl or Cmd to zoom), the middle mouse button, or two fingers. With Move chosen at the top, a press or one finger moves the chart too, so you can look around without marking anything.

− and + zoom out and in, and Fit shows the whole chart. The keys +, − and 0 do the same.

The colours above the chart

Above the chart is a row of coloured cells, one for each colour in the chart, each with its symbol, and under it the thread's number, such as 321, when the colour is a thread. Point at a cell to see the colour's name and how many of its stitches are done; on a phone, press it to find the colour, which shows both. If the chart has many colours, slide the row sideways.

The overview

Overview shows the whole chart at once, with the stitches you have done in colour and a frame around the part in view. Press a place on it to bring that part into view. Under it is your total progress. On a phone the overview covers the chart; close it with ✕.

Finding a colour's stitches

Press a colour's cell above the chart to find its stitches. The chart dims every other colour, the cell is outlined, and beside the cells you see the colour's name and how many of its stitches are done, for example 12 of 340 done. The cells stay, so pressing another one finds that colour instead. While a colour is found, only its stitches are marked: a drag across the chart marks that colour's stitches and leaves the others as they are, and a press or a finger that starts on another colour moves the chart instead. Press the colour's cell again, press Clear, or press Esc to see every colour again. On a phone, the overview closes when you choose a colour, so you see the chart. Finding a colour chooses Mark, and seeing every colour again goes back to Move.

Project settings

Settings, at the top of the reader, opens the project's settings. Change the project's name there and press Save name.

You can also show a colour of the chart in another colour in this project, for example the thread you are actually using. Press Colour beside it under Colours. Choose a thread system and find a thread by its number or name, or choose Any colour and press Use it. Chart's colour shows it in the chart's colour again.

The change is kept with the project. It does not change the chart, or any other project started from it.

Symbols on done stitches chooses how a stitch you have done shows its symbol: None shows its colour only, Visible shows the symbol as before, and Paler shows it faintly. Stitches still to do always show their symbols. The choice is kept on this device, for every project.

Updating a project from its chart

If you changed the chart after starting the project, you can bring the project up to date: press Update from the chart under Chart in the project's settings. The project takes the chart as it is now, and the stitches you have marked stay marked where they are, at the same column and row. Your own colours stay with their threads.

If the chart changed stitches you have already done, for example you gave them another colour, the reader says how many and waits. Press Update anyway to go ahead, or Cancel to keep the project as it is. You can also simply keep stitching from the chart as it was. Done stitches that fall outside a smaller chart lose their marks.

After the update, each changed stitch you had done is shown in its new colour with a red border, and a line above the chart says how many there are. Mark one not done to stitch it again; its border goes. Or press Keep them as stitched to keep them all as they are, in the colour you stitched them, and carry on with the new colours for the rest.

If the chart has not changed, the reader says so. If the chart has been deleted, or the project was opened from a file, there is nothing to update from, and the settings say so.

Your projects

Projects in your account lists every project, the one you worked on last first. Each shows a picture of the chart with the stitches you have done in colour, how many are done, and the chart or file it came from. If that chart has been deleted, the project says so; the project itself is kept. Open opens it in the reader. Rename gives it another name, and Delete… deletes it and its marks, after asking. Deleting a project does not delete the chart.

Saving

Your marks are saved to your account as you go, a moment after each change. The top of the reader says Not saved yet, then Saving…, then Saved. Closing the page saves any marks not yet saved.

If a save fails, the reader says so and tries again by itself. If you marked the same project on another device or in another tab, the reader keeps the marks from both and says so. If the project was updated from its chart on another device, the reader shows it as it is now and keeps the marks you had not yet saved.

Installing the reader as an app

The reader can be installed as an app, with its own icon, opening in its own window. In Chrome or Edge on a computer, or on an Android phone or tablet, open the reader and choose the browser's Install button or menu item. On an iPhone or iPad, open the reader in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen; the reader shows this the first time, until you press Got it. The installed reader is the same reader, logged in to the same account.

Using the reader offline

Each project you open in the reader is kept on that device. Whenever the reader is online, the projects kept are brought up to date from your account: marks, names and colours changed on another device come through, and a project you delete leaves the device too.

Without a connection, the reader still opens: Your projects lists the projects kept on the device, and each opens as it was last brought up to date. Offline you can look at the chart, move and zoom, find a colour's stitches, change the symbols on done stitches, and mark stitches: the reader says Kept on this device. Renaming, deleting, a project's colours and updates from the chart need a connection, and the reader greys them out until it is back.

Marks made without a connection, or not yet saved when it drops, are kept on the device: closing the reader or restarting the device loses none. Once the reader is online and you are logged in, they are saved to your account, on top of any marks saved meanwhile on another device. If the chart was updated meanwhile, each mark lands on the same stitch position. In a private window, or where the browser keeps nothing, the marks are saved once the connection returns as long as the page stays open, and the reader says so.

Logging out empties the device of your projects and of any marks not yet saved. Opening the reader online once you are no longer logged in there empties it of your projects too, but keeps the marks not yet saved until you log in again. The designer needs a connection: offline, it says so.