Sizing Designs and Reduce/Adjust Colours

Just as sketching and painting can take hours of work, image editing can be time consuming to create the effect that you want.

*Save every step in a place on your computer in a file that you can easily remember and find. To free up space, transfer these files to a CD for occasional refferal.

You've picked the photo you'd like to create a design with.  In your image editing program you have made the preferred adjustments such as cropping, removing background, applying desired filters and resized the photo.

Have a look at the design at various zoom (size %).

Clicking back and forth. If you spot a colour that just

doesn't suit, you'll have to remove it.

This deep maroon colour looked out

 of place to me. I used the eye-dropper

 tool (placed this cursor right over the stitch of this colour).

 The colour is then highlighted in my

design pallette. By clicking on this highlight,

a window will appear giving choices

 on what to do with that colour.

I picked the delete option (not Delete All).

 The colour was removed and now I am

able to add a new colour to my pallette

or pick a similar colour from adjacent pixels.

***You'll have to repeat this procedure for each offending colour.

 - It is helpful to have the original print at hand. Quick glances can help with choice of colours.

 - Colour cards such as the one DMC has can save you time and help make colour choices easier.

You can download one from SuperStitcher

http://www.superstitcher.com/downloads.aspx

or purchase one from

http://herrschners.com/products/sku-700199__id-654.html

 - If  you already have threads on hand, grouping several skeins of the same colour tones together can also help  you visualize the change.

 - You can create a colour of your own be blending a strand from 2 different colours of the same shade. By blending colours you are greatly increasing colour choices and creating far more subtle shading tones. This really helps to make a realistic look and reduce the pixelated effect often created in patterns made from photos..

When you blend 2 different colours of vastly different shades you can create a very distinctive look. Some stitchers refer to this as "TWEEDING" and it helps create texture.

The blending of 1 strand of cotton floss and 1 strand of metallic filament or floss also helps soften portions of a pattern where you use metallic threads.

In a design that uses alot one certain colour, you can create distinctive areas by stitching with only 1 strand instead of 2 or by stitching half stitches rather than full stitches. It helps take the focus away from areas that are not the main subject. This technique is often used in landscapes on the sky areas.

When considering the size of  a design, I first determine  what I'll be using the design for. Am I framing it, making a cushion, or a christmas tree ornament?

Usually, I only use a portion of the photo. The subject of the design can be hard to determine in an average photo. Crop the picture down to the main subject. A 4" x 6" photograph contains thousands of pixels. The average cross stitch design contains less than a thousand stitches. The more data removed, the easier it is to process a workable design.

Another imporant consideration for size is the amount of detail. (The more detail, the larger the design and colours needed).

To counter balance a large design, and not create a pattern the size of a house,  try a fabric of higher count .

This fabric converter from Aion may help.

http://www.aion-needlecrafts.co.uk/info/convert.htm

Once I have completed my image editing, and if the design is very large and detailed,  I change the image size as described below.

If I  chose a design that I wish to stitch on 14 count fabric, I set the resolution to 14 pixels per inch. At the same time I decide on the size of the design area.

In the case of the design of the dog pictured above on the right, I have choosen to make the design 10" x 10" and stitch it on 22 count aida fabric. I have set the image resolution to 22 ppi.

I then save this image and this is the one I transfer to my cross-stitch software program to start the design touch-ups.

This article may help understand pixels per inch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixels_per_inch

This article will explain image resolution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_resolution

Another good source for calculating fabric/design size is from Salt and Pepper

http://www.salt-and-pepper.com/Hints1a.htm#size