For designers

StitchKeep-ready

StitchKeep is a free iPhone, iPad and Mac app for cross stitch and hand embroidery, with no ads and no account. Its chart marker opens your PDF charts, reads the grid, symbols and legend, and lets stitchers highlight a symbol, jump to the next unmarked stitch and see what's left of each thread.

The StitchKeep-ready program helps your charts work well in it. It is free and technical: no fees, no revenue share, no exclusivity, and nothing to sign beyond agreeing to how we describe your charts.

For your chart PDFs and printed kits: PNG, 2 in at 300 dpi (4 in), or dark (4 in). The SVGs above scale to any size.

What you get

A public chart spec

Exactly what the marker detects, written from the app's code. Read the spec.

A compatibility report

Check a chart in your browser with the same checks the marker runs: grid, symbols, legend, page overlap.

The badge

Use it on your shop listings and chart covers once a chart passes.

A featured spot

Designers with free charts can be listed in the app's Patterns tab, linking to your own site.

How it works

Check a chart right here in your browser (the file never leaves your device), or go through the checklist. Most charting programs already pass.
Apply with one test chart. We run it through StitchKeep's compatibility report and send you the results.
Fix anything the report flags (often a setting in your charting program), and send it again if you like.
Use the badge on charts that pass, and tell us which page to link if you'd like a featured spot.

The featured spot

Patterns › Free Patterns in the app can show a short "Featured Designers" row. Each card has your name, one line in your own words, and a link to a page on your site (your free charts page, or your shop). Tapping it opens your site in the browser. StitchKeep never copies, hosts or sells your charts, and there are no in-app sales: stitchers download from you, under your terms, and import the PDF themselves.

The list is a small file on this site, so you can ask to change your line or link, or to be removed, at any time and it updates without an app release.

Licensing

We only feature properly licensed charts. Apply with your own designs, or designs you are licensed to publish.
Your charts stay yours. Test copies are used for the compatibility check only and deleted afterwards.
We don't add DRM or watermark removal, and StitchKeep doesn't share charts between users.
If you'd ever like a chart bundled inside the app, that needs a separate written license from you. We don't do it otherwise.

Questions

Does it cost anything?

No. There are no fees and no revenue share, now or later. StitchKeep is free and supported by optional tips.

My charts are made in WinStitch / MacStitch, PCStitch, KG-Chart or Pattern Maker. Do I need to change anything?

Usually not. Check a chart and the report will say. If your program can also export OXS, offering that file too gives stitchers backstitch and fractional stitches automatically.

Does it work with charts that already work in other chart apps?

Charts made for other symbol-reading apps tend to have the same structure (vector grid, text symbols, a legend), so they often pass as they are. The report checks StitchKeep's own rules.

What about hand embroidery designs?

Embroidery designers with free patterns can be featured too; those cards show to people who turned on Hand Embroidery in the app. The chart spec only applies to counted charts.