Built by stitchers, for stitchers.

StitchThis started with a simple question from my mother-in-law.

She loves cross-stitch and wanted a way to make her own patterns, but the software available was either too limited, too clunky, or too difficult to use. What began as a small favor turned into a homemade program — not pretty, but it was the seed that grew into StitchThis.

From there, I started creating and selling patterns on Etsy. That experience changed everything. Running my own pattern shop taught me something no outside observer could see: what designers actually need, what stitchers actually want, and where every existing workflow fell apart.

The more I worked with cross-stitch design, the more obvious the problem became. The market was full of old, disconnected software that hadn't kept up with how modern makers actually work. Pattern converters, PDF viewers, floss lists, image editors, progress trackers, and design platforms were all scattered across separate apps. Some were powerful but dated. Others were simple but too limited. None of them felt like they had been built for today's cross-stitch community — and nothing came close to supporting a professional pattern maker at scale.

As a data scientist working in machine learning, I started building the workflow pieces I wished existed:

• StitchSense— smarter pattern generation that preserves the detail traditional conversion tools tend to lose, especially in portraits and complex images.
• FORGE— batch generation that produces every variation of a pattern in one pass, so designers can ship a polished collection in days instead of rebuilding each one by hand.
• A stash-aware palette that matches generated patterns to the floss already in my drawer, so my shopping list shrank instead of growing.
• A community built into the platform — the kind I wish had existed when I was figuring cross-stitch out for the first time.

That eventually turned into a bigger vision: StitchThis shouldn't just be another pattern converter. It should be a unified creative workspace for cross-stitch.

A place where stitchers can bring an idea, create a pattern, refine the details, manage colors and floss, track progress, organize projects, and eventually share or sell their work without jumping between a dozen different apps.

StitchThis is being built for hobbyists, serious stitchers, pattern sellers, and creative makers who want modern software without losing the handmade joy of the craft.

Cross-stitch is where StitchThis began — and where I'm focused now. But the long-term goal is bigger: crochet, needlepoint, embroidery, beadwork, and every other craft that needs the same thing cross-stitch does.

StitchThis exists to make that process easier, smarter, and more joyful.

We're still early, and we're building with the community. Every tester, stitcher, designer, and maker who shares feedback helps shape what StitchThis becomes.

This started as a small tool for one stitcher.

Now we're building it for everyone who makes.

— Steve