About Stitch Zoo

stitchzoo.com is a free library of counted patterns: cross stitch patterns, perler bead patterns and pixel art templates, together with a free Pattern Maker that turns a picture into a printable chart. Nothing here is behind a payment or an account. The site launched in August 2026 and new patterns are added in batches.

It is built for people who count squares. Cross stitchers who want a clean chart they can follow on the sofa. Perler bead and Hama crafters, who are working from the same grid with different materials. Pixel artists who need a pixel art grid to sketch on. Parents looking for a rainy afternoon. Teachers and librarians who need thirty copies of something quiet, countable and finishable in one session, which is why the beginner patterns are kept small and forgiving.

How every pattern is made

Every chart on this site comes out of one pattern engine, and that engine is deterministic: the same design always produces the same grid, the same symbols and the same PDF. A design starts as artwork drawn in house on a grid, one cell to one stitch. The engine then normalises it, counts every colour, assigns each colour a distinct symbol and renders three things: a symbol chart, a colour key, and a printable A4 PDF.

A few details matter more than they sound. The colour key uses our own palette, with our own codes and plain colour names such as soft black, cherry red or pine, rather than any thread manufacturer's numbering. Each cell carries a pale wash of the real colour underneath a black symbol, so the chart is pleasant on a colour printer and still perfectly usable on a mono one. Guide lines are printed heavily every ten stitches, with numbers down the left and across the top, because that is how anyone counting a large area keeps their place after a break. Each pattern page also states its stitch count, its colour count and its finished size in centimetres on 14 count aida, so you know what you are committing to before you thread a needle.

Only original and public domain designs

This site publishes original designs it draws itself, plus clear public domain motifs. It will never publish a pattern derived from somebody else's artwork, and it will never publish a licensed character. That is a deliberate line, not caution about a grey area: a chart made from another person's picture is a derivative work of that picture, whoever typed it into the grid. Alphabets are treated the same way, so the cross stitch alphabet charts are drawn here rather than traced from a typeface. The full position, including what you may do with the charts, is set out on the license page.

The Pattern Maker

The Pattern Maker runs your own image through exactly the same engine, so the chart it hands back is built like a published one. It stores nothing: the image is converted, the chart is produced, and the image is gone. There is no upload gallery and no public URL for anything you convert. See the privacy policy for the detail.

Questions, corrections and requests are welcome on the contact page, or by writing to [email protected].