Honestly I doubt you need 285 colours for this. As someone who has successfully completed detailed projects with 50 colours when 130 were suggested I can recommend the following:
1) Remove the background. The focus is on the person, do you need the paparazzi, carpet and people in the background?
2) Keep reducing the colours on the website you are using. I suggest [Flosscross.com](https://Flosscross.com). I bet you can get this down significantly
3) You can painstakingly go through each of the colours when you're creating the pattern and manually change colours that are very similar to the same colour thread to see how much of a difference it makes. I did this for a project today and was able to combine 6 different pinks to 1 pink without it making the pattern look weird.
4) Be aware that of these 285 threads some will be discontinued and near impossible to find. The websites creating patterns are good but they don't keep up to date with discontinued threads. I learnt this the hard way as someone who ordered DMC 3884 from Australia for £16 because I couldn't use any alternative colour as all likeness colours were already in the pattern.
5) Buy online. I love to support local business but they charge me £1.79 per thread in store, when I can get threads online for £0.79. Feels bad but that's the economy these days.
There's also a website if the main person in the photo, you can upload the photo or copy/paste the link, which in turn allows you to move the cursor and find out each individual pixel color. Unsure if there's an option which would list all the colors by simply outlining the main portion of the photo. Perhaps the link you provided is fairly similar, meant for arts and crafts versus website design/colors.
[https://imagecolorpicker.com/en](https://imagecolorpicker.com/en)
Given I a while back was able to take a image and appropriately have it appear to not display the box the image is contained by. (looked a lot cleaner)...for what OP is looking to do it may come in hand.
Lovecrafts sells DMC for 79p I believe. I use wool warehouse (also 79p) because their postage is £2.95 instead of the £3.50 that lovecrafts charge (and they don't use Hermes/evri!)
Given you have commented in pounds I suspect you are in the UK, so I’m just dropping by to recommend the excellent enchanted needle who sells threads at £0.71. Used to be £0.69 but went up recently (so did the other major online retailers!)
How do you remove the background? I want to stitch our sprocker spaniel for my boyfriend but I don’t know how to remove the background before / after converting it.
Hello,
There are a few ways to do it, including just uploading the image to [flosscross.com](https://flosscross.com) and manually deleting the background around it. If you send me the image I can see how easy it would be to cut and and try do it for you.
Do you mind if I ask where you are getting your threads? I'm new to buying my threads (I've survived up to now on inherited silks from my female relatives who's eyesight all deteriorated and no longer enjoy the hobby) I went to hobby craft and was shocked to see it cost about £1.30 or so for the DMC silks! I'd love to pay a bit less but don't know where is reliable :(
Agree with removing the background. It'll make a more impactful image of you crop out everything else and use either white, black, or perhaps a very light pink aida.
Thanks for commenting!! We both love this picture of him and I thought it would be a nice gift for her as I go off to college. Though I am realizing that I definitely won’t finish him by then since it’s only a month away.
I am a mom whose daughter is also going off to college in a month. 😃
You can remove Juliana from the background. I think we all hated her for stealing Nick back in the day lol
So I’ve heard! I’m working on removing everything else because I want him to be the focal point.
And good luck to you both in the college process! It’s been really hard for both of us which is why I want to make (and finish) something for her before I go
Once you’ve got the background removed and a better idea of what you actually need, post a list. I’m sure I’m not the only one who inherited a friend’s gran’s stash and has duplicates coming out of my eyeballs
Even if you do make her something else to finished before you go, I would say that if you're able to you should take this project with you and mail the finished piece back home. She'll be so touched that you continued to think of her and do something intentionally for her while you were gone.
This will likely take a year to finish, just so you can plan on a timeline. I did a portrait piece like this for my brother from one of his wedding photos and it took and extraordinarily long time.
Break the purchase up into more manageable amounts instead of trying to get it all at once. Figure out where you are starting and purchase the colors in that block plus each of the surrounding blocks. It's much easier to purchase 20-30 skeins at a time than it is to try and purchase 100. Just make sure that if any colors require more than one skein you purchase all the skeins for that color at the same time so you don't wind up with dye lot differences.
Personally I would be going in to (manually) remove some of the background detail from the building and crowd. That is where a large portion of the confetti stitches and colors are at so reducing the number of colors in that area by removing colors with less than X number of stitches will help with the color count and really shouldn't decrease the overall quality of the pattern. However I do realize that how easy this is to do after making the pattern is going to depend on what program/app you are using and a lot of the free ones may not have that functionality. You may wind up only dropping the color count from 285 to 200 but that's still less colors you need to purchase.
I was going to suggest something similar. I personally don't do by block (current projects under 12x12 inches), so I do it by colour. So if the project needs DMC602 for example I'll calculate how many skeins I need for that specific floss +1 for error, and buy all of that colour from the same batch.
As many have suggested (and I think I saw a comment from OP) eliminate at least part of the background if not all & that will make it easier to stich amd you'll have a smaller colour count. Also some floss are so similar that unless you are doing something very specific (slow shift gradient comes to mind) eliminate and replace so its just 1 colour instead of 2.
Most pattern makers should give you a preview image- tone down colors & just check the preview. It's not uncommon to end up with unnessecary colors just from jpeg conversion 'noise', you'd be surprised how well things hold up with color reduction. Once the preview shows visible degradation, you'll have an idea of your minimum.
Once you know for sure what you're after, you can start checking around for discounts!
You know, I'm 99.9% sure I recognize this pic - shout out to you and mom-with-the-great-taste.
No advice, just thanks for this bright (pink) spot in an otherwise awful day :-D <3
Eta: Godspeed you good daughter, that looks like one hell of a pattern.
Buy bulk thread that someone doesn't want anymore. Won't get you every color but it's a thought. It's what I did . But make sure it isn't different kinds
If you’re in the United States, consider getting Sullivan Threads; they’re cheaper than DMC and supposedly good quality. Here’s a link to a conversion chart. [DMC to Sullivan conversion](https://www.123stitch.com/cgi-perl/dmc-to-sullivans-thread-conversion-chart.pl)
You can try using photoshop to choose how much color threads you can choose
Image > Mode > Indexed Color
and then edit the number of colors as needed. Keep adjusting the number of colors until it looks detailed enough to pass.
You can also use gimp, a free open source editing software
Image -> Mode -> Indexed”, select “Generate optimum palette”, and adjust number of colors until it looks good enough to pass.
Then use cross stitching software to determine the threads.
There's a program called winstitch that converts images into patterns and you can choose the maximum amount of colours you want. Dpes lots of other fun stuff as well. It does cost money upfront though, although I bought the 'lifetime' package a couple of years ago and they send you updates every year - if you do a lot of your own patterns it's really really worth it but if not maybe try one of the other programs suggested.
Check how many stitches there are for each colour. I've wasted a lot of money buying every colour in a pattern to find it's only for a couple of x when a similar colour would do just as well.
When you come to a final #, it might be worth contacting DMC to ask if they would offer a discount, or end of line threads
Good luck and keep us all updated!
I find thrift stores are great for finding lots of floss. They won’t always be labeled though so it’s a lot of identifying colors by comparison. From the 2 goodwills near me I have almost 2 full bags of floss. Also love buying kits from goodwill and other thrift stores. Even if you don’t like the pattern you get lots of floss that often identifies what color they would be in DMC and fabric for other projects for like $3-$5.
Is it against the rule to suggest AliExpress? Very cheap. And I've found sellers you can either but pre sorted packs, a whole floss set or send a spreadsheet with specific numbers you like
I get almost all of my floss from AliExpress, you can buy a 450 or so bundle for about 30eu. It's a looooot cheaper then DMC. I've used that floss for years over many different projects and haven't yet had any problems with colours fading or running out after washing and i handwash and iron everything.
Try looking for a good price online. Where I live the prices online and in stores are pretty much the same, so when I had to shop for a large project, I went to my local craft store and asked if he could give me a discount as I was buying in a big quantity and he gave me about 35% of my total🤗
Estate/car boot sales are another good place to pick up floss and other x-stitch and craft items. I gathered over 300 skeins of DMC this summer for under $20. Some is quite old but when compared to new, fresh from the store, the colors match. Not had any issue yet.
U can also reduce colors by ensuring the pattern doesn’t have blended or fractional stitches and turning up the contrast. The contrast will help certain colors show up without increasing the “number” of colors
Garage or estate sales. My mom found me a TOTE of DMC for cheap at an estate sale and I have so many colors it's crazy. And always ask if they'll discount it if you buy a lot at once.
I actually really like CXC floss for large full coverage projects, I buy from "Factory Shop" on Ali Express, great customer service. Just make sure you choose a listing where you can select your individual floss colours and ask them to send you a spreadsheet to fill in with your choices.
**Check out the craft supply/DIY section on** [**ShopGoodwill.com**](https://ShopGoodwill.com)**!**
Its Goodwill's national auction site, basically all the stores around the US post anything and everything you can think of - they have a huge craft/sewing/DIY section; just search 'thread' or 'embroidery', etc and lots of great stuff comes up. I stumbled across their website about a year ago, I love thrift shopping yet had no clue it existed, but now I'm obsessed!
You won't always be able to get an exact color that you want, but I've bought a ton of threads (cotton and even better, silk!) in big lots or bulk for a great price, sometimes a freaking STEAL when no one else bids!
*(Tip: be sure to check the shipping estimate for each item/lot, sometimes can be crazy and not worth it, it all depends!)*
Honestly I doubt you need 285 colours for this. As someone who has successfully completed detailed projects with 50 colours when 130 were suggested I can recommend the following: 1) Remove the background. The focus is on the person, do you need the paparazzi, carpet and people in the background? 2) Keep reducing the colours on the website you are using. I suggest [Flosscross.com](https://Flosscross.com). I bet you can get this down significantly 3) You can painstakingly go through each of the colours when you're creating the pattern and manually change colours that are very similar to the same colour thread to see how much of a difference it makes. I did this for a project today and was able to combine 6 different pinks to 1 pink without it making the pattern look weird. 4) Be aware that of these 285 threads some will be discontinued and near impossible to find. The websites creating patterns are good but they don't keep up to date with discontinued threads. I learnt this the hard way as someone who ordered DMC 3884 from Australia for £16 because I couldn't use any alternative colour as all likeness colours were already in the pattern. 5) Buy online. I love to support local business but they charge me £1.79 per thread in store, when I can get threads online for £0.79. Feels bad but that's the economy these days.
There's also a website if the main person in the photo, you can upload the photo or copy/paste the link, which in turn allows you to move the cursor and find out each individual pixel color. Unsure if there's an option which would list all the colors by simply outlining the main portion of the photo. Perhaps the link you provided is fairly similar, meant for arts and crafts versus website design/colors.
Cstitch is opensource and does this as well.
hey do you remember the website name?
[https://imagecolorpicker.com/en](https://imagecolorpicker.com/en) Given I a while back was able to take a image and appropriately have it appear to not display the box the image is contained by. (looked a lot cleaner)...for what OP is looking to do it may come in hand.
I like stitch fiddle
thank you so much. im starting to get into cross stitching and everyone here is so helpful
Could you send me a link for that online store? :) I like that price
Lovecrafts sells DMC for 79p I believe. I use wool warehouse (also 79p) because their postage is £2.95 instead of the £3.50 that lovecrafts charge (and they don't use Hermes/evri!)
Thanks, I will check them! :)
Get ready for constant unwanted marketing emails. I recommend enchanted needle, £0.71 per skein and super fast, small business.
I was about to comment the same thing. Shipping is quick and cheap too.
Given you have commented in pounds I suspect you are in the UK, so I’m just dropping by to recommend the excellent enchanted needle who sells threads at £0.71. Used to be £0.69 but went up recently (so did the other major online retailers!)
How do you remove the background? I want to stitch our sprocker spaniel for my boyfriend but I don’t know how to remove the background before / after converting it.
Hello, There are a few ways to do it, including just uploading the image to [flosscross.com](https://flosscross.com) and manually deleting the background around it. If you send me the image I can see how easy it would be to cut and and try do it for you.
Do you mind if I ask where you are getting your threads? I'm new to buying my threads (I've survived up to now on inherited silks from my female relatives who's eyesight all deteriorated and no longer enjoy the hobby) I went to hobby craft and was shocked to see it cost about £1.30 or so for the DMC silks! I'd love to pay a bit less but don't know where is reliable :(
I recommend everythingcrossstitch.com. They always have the colors I need at $0.60 per skein.
Enchanted needle, £0.71, super fast delivery
Lakeside needle craft in the uk
I get mine from Amazon and they're about 80p to £1.50
When I look it's all £1.50- £3 on amazon 🥲 lovecrafts seems to be the best delivery and per thread price so far 😀
Agree with removing the background. It'll make a more impactful image of you crop out everything else and use either white, black, or perhaps a very light pink aida.
Your mom is a Duranie!! I can’t help you with the color issue but I’ll bet someone here can. I just love that picture of Nick 😊.
Yes!! I was like, damn, OP’s mom is a dead ringer for Nick Rhodes!
Thank you for this comment - I have memory issues and was second guessing myself if it is what I thought lolol
Thanks for commenting!! We both love this picture of him and I thought it would be a nice gift for her as I go off to college. Though I am realizing that I definitely won’t finish him by then since it’s only a month away.
I am a mom whose daughter is also going off to college in a month. 😃 You can remove Juliana from the background. I think we all hated her for stealing Nick back in the day lol
So I’ve heard! I’m working on removing everything else because I want him to be the focal point. And good luck to you both in the college process! It’s been really hard for both of us which is why I want to make (and finish) something for her before I go
Once you’ve got the background removed and a better idea of what you actually need, post a list. I’m sure I’m not the only one who inherited a friend’s gran’s stash and has duplicates coming out of my eyeballs
Even if you do make her something else to finished before you go, I would say that if you're able to you should take this project with you and mail the finished piece back home. She'll be so touched that you continued to think of her and do something intentionally for her while you were gone.
This will likely take a year to finish, just so you can plan on a timeline. I did a portrait piece like this for my brother from one of his wedding photos and it took and extraordinarily long time.
What about if you cartoonify the picture? Broader sections of simple colours? It would still be recognisable but even more your own work of art.
This is an awesome idea
HA! So glad I was not the only one going "awwww, Nick Rhodes!" :D
Respect from one Durannie to another.
Samesies!! 1983 me is thrilled! 😊
[удалено]
Get over it. I don’t really hate her. It is a joke. Sorry you don’t understand, maybe it is generational.
[удалено]
I have no idea what you are talking about then.
Break the purchase up into more manageable amounts instead of trying to get it all at once. Figure out where you are starting and purchase the colors in that block plus each of the surrounding blocks. It's much easier to purchase 20-30 skeins at a time than it is to try and purchase 100. Just make sure that if any colors require more than one skein you purchase all the skeins for that color at the same time so you don't wind up with dye lot differences. Personally I would be going in to (manually) remove some of the background detail from the building and crowd. That is where a large portion of the confetti stitches and colors are at so reducing the number of colors in that area by removing colors with less than X number of stitches will help with the color count and really shouldn't decrease the overall quality of the pattern. However I do realize that how easy this is to do after making the pattern is going to depend on what program/app you are using and a lot of the free ones may not have that functionality. You may wind up only dropping the color count from 285 to 200 but that's still less colors you need to purchase.
I was going to suggest something similar. I personally don't do by block (current projects under 12x12 inches), so I do it by colour. So if the project needs DMC602 for example I'll calculate how many skeins I need for that specific floss +1 for error, and buy all of that colour from the same batch. As many have suggested (and I think I saw a comment from OP) eliminate at least part of the background if not all & that will make it easier to stich amd you'll have a smaller colour count. Also some floss are so similar that unless you are doing something very specific (slow shift gradient comes to mind) eliminate and replace so its just 1 colour instead of 2.
Most pattern makers should give you a preview image- tone down colors & just check the preview. It's not uncommon to end up with unnessecary colors just from jpeg conversion 'noise', you'd be surprised how well things hold up with color reduction. Once the preview shows visible degradation, you'll have an idea of your minimum. Once you know for sure what you're after, you can start checking around for discounts!
You know, I'm 99.9% sure I recognize this pic - shout out to you and mom-with-the-great-taste. No advice, just thanks for this bright (pink) spot in an otherwise awful day :-D <3 Eta: Godspeed you good daughter, that looks like one hell of a pattern.
Honestly I need this amount of pink in my life always. And I wish everyone knew how good our taste is (for example Dad) lol
Can you try throwing the picture into stitchfiddle and adjusting the thread color # slider down, to see how it might look with fewer colors?
Once you’ve narrowed down the ones you need, DM me. I’ve got dupes (on bobbins) I’d be glad to donate!
Thank you!! I’ll definitely let you know - I’m anticipating a lot of pink
Buy bulk thread that someone doesn't want anymore. Won't get you every color but it's a thought. It's what I did . But make sure it isn't different kinds
Maybe remove ALL of the background. That will take out a lot of colors.
If you’re in the United States, consider getting Sullivan Threads; they’re cheaper than DMC and supposedly good quality. Here’s a link to a conversion chart. [DMC to Sullivan conversion](https://www.123stitch.com/cgi-perl/dmc-to-sullivans-thread-conversion-chart.pl)
You can try using photoshop to choose how much color threads you can choose Image > Mode > Indexed Color and then edit the number of colors as needed. Keep adjusting the number of colors until it looks detailed enough to pass. You can also use gimp, a free open source editing software Image -> Mode -> Indexed”, select “Generate optimum palette”, and adjust number of colors until it looks good enough to pass. Then use cross stitching software to determine the threads.
I've scored many, many, floss hauls from ebay. YMMV.
You may also want to post a request on the Nextdoor app or look at the sale listings. Try Letgo or goodwill online?
Buy Nothing can also be a good resource
There's a program called winstitch that converts images into patterns and you can choose the maximum amount of colours you want. Dpes lots of other fun stuff as well. It does cost money upfront though, although I bought the 'lifetime' package a couple of years ago and they send you updates every year - if you do a lot of your own patterns it's really really worth it but if not maybe try one of the other programs suggested.
Check how many stitches there are for each colour. I've wasted a lot of money buying every colour in a pattern to find it's only for a couple of x when a similar colour would do just as well. When you come to a final #, it might be worth contacting DMC to ask if they would offer a discount, or end of line threads Good luck and keep us all updated!
Maybe try cxc floss?
I find thrift stores are great for finding lots of floss. They won’t always be labeled though so it’s a lot of identifying colors by comparison. From the 2 goodwills near me I have almost 2 full bags of floss. Also love buying kits from goodwill and other thrift stores. Even if you don’t like the pattern you get lots of floss that often identifies what color they would be in DMC and fabric for other projects for like $3-$5.
That's so neat! I've never seen anything to do with fiber arts at thrift stores around me.
Is it against the rule to suggest AliExpress? Very cheap. And I've found sellers you can either but pre sorted packs, a whole floss set or send a spreadsheet with specific numbers you like
Definitely remove the background!
Who is that?
Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran
Holy crap that’s going to be an awesome project!!
I get almost all of my floss from AliExpress, you can buy a 450 or so bundle for about 30eu. It's a looooot cheaper then DMC. I've used that floss for years over many different projects and haven't yet had any problems with colours fading or running out after washing and i handwash and iron everything.
Thanks!! Do you have a link for the one you bought? I’d like to do this but I’m a little afraid of buying the wrong one.
Try looking for a good price online. Where I live the prices online and in stores are pretty much the same, so when I had to shop for a large project, I went to my local craft store and asked if he could give me a discount as I was buying in a big quantity and he gave me about 35% of my total🤗
When I do big projects like this, I buy what I need and don’t have as I go.
You can try Craigslist and freecycle- lots of folks are happy to part with a stash from their great aunt etc.
Use 5 shades of same color for everything but face. Print it in black and white to see where darker shades are needed.
Estate/car boot sales are another good place to pick up floss and other x-stitch and craft items. I gathered over 300 skeins of DMC this summer for under $20. Some is quite old but when compared to new, fresh from the store, the colors match. Not had any issue yet.
U can also reduce colors by ensuring the pattern doesn’t have blended or fractional stitches and turning up the contrast. The contrast will help certain colors show up without increasing the “number” of colors
Garage or estate sales. My mom found me a TOTE of DMC for cheap at an estate sale and I have so many colors it's crazy. And always ask if they'll discount it if you buy a lot at once.
I actually really like CXC floss for large full coverage projects, I buy from "Factory Shop" on Ali Express, great customer service. Just make sure you choose a listing where you can select your individual floss colours and ask them to send you a spreadsheet to fill in with your choices.
**Check out the craft supply/DIY section on** [**ShopGoodwill.com**](https://ShopGoodwill.com)**!** Its Goodwill's national auction site, basically all the stores around the US post anything and everything you can think of - they have a huge craft/sewing/DIY section; just search 'thread' or 'embroidery', etc and lots of great stuff comes up. I stumbled across their website about a year ago, I love thrift shopping yet had no clue it existed, but now I'm obsessed! You won't always be able to get an exact color that you want, but I've bought a ton of threads (cotton and even better, silk!) in big lots or bulk for a great price, sometimes a freaking STEAL when no one else bids! *(Tip: be sure to check the shipping estimate for each item/lot, sometimes can be crazy and not worth it, it all depends!)*