Cross stitch and hand embroidery, in one place

Start with a photo or your own thread plan

Choose Hand embroidery when you open a photo, or start a project and pick DMC threads yourself. A photo gives you a source preview, a transfer outline and suggested thread colours. Choose which stitches to use and mark each thread done as you work.

Ten stitches, with diagrams

Choose running, back, stem or split stitch for lines; satin or long and short stitch for fills; or chain, lazy daisy, French knot and fishbone for other shapes and textures. Each has a diagram and guidance on when to use it. Needle directions are available to screen readers too.

Plan your hoop, cloth and thread

Pick a hoop from 3 to 12 inches, with centimetres shown alongside. Record the fabric, whether it is dark, and the thread type, strand count or thickness. Tondo uses these choices for cloth-size and needle guidance.

Estimate thread for the work you plan

Assign a stitch to a thread and enter the fill area, line length or number of decorative stitches for an estimate. Photo plans suggest colour coverage. Estimates use your setup; they are shopping guides, and some thread types do not have a skein estimate.

Print an outline at hoop size

Turn a picture into line art with Simple, Balanced or Fine detail. Export a PDF transfer sheet on one page sized for your hoop. Print at actual size and check its scale before transferring the design. Larger hoops need suitable paper or tiling in your print software.

Choose a transfer method for your fabric

Tondo suggests suitable methods from window tracing, carbon paper, water-soluble stabiliser, an iron-on transfer pen, tissue paper and prick and pounce. Choose iron-on and the sheet is mirrored for ink-down transfer. Fabric and transfer-material guidance still matter, especially for dark, stretchy or delicate cloth.

Try the botanical wreath

The included example has six thread colours, assigned stitches, artwork, instructions and a printable outline. Use it free to explore the whole hand-embroidery project. A plan made from your own photo suggests colours; you choose its stitches.

Read the hand embroidery guide

Preview PDF charts and scans

Open a designer PDF, scan or photograph of a printed chart. Tondo looks for the grid, symbols and thread key. Review uncertain colours and adjust the grid when calibration is offered. A difficult scan may still need manual correction or may not be readable.

Choose pages and individual motifs

Join tiled pages of one pattern into a continuous canvas, select separate charts from a book, or import individual motifs when Tondo detects a collection. An interrupted book import can be resumed from the library.

Open files from chart software

Import supported OXS, PCStitch, Pattern Maker, FlossCross, KXStitch and other chart files, including charts inside ZIP files. The import report names unsupported details. Check the formats guide before relying on a particular export.

Turn a photo into a counted pattern

Choose the width in stitches, number of DMC colours, fabric shade, dithering and confetti reduction. Compare the live preview, adjust the framing, lock or replace colours and merge threads. Processing happens on your device, without uploads or per-pattern fees.

Draw on a blank grid

Choose a grid size and DMC colours, then draw with a brush, fill, eyedropper and undo. Add colours as you work. You can also use an unreadable chart page as a reference under the grid and place the stitches yourself.

Edit and revisit a design

Reopen a generated pattern to adjust its settings, or edit a drawn pattern on the grid. Correct a misread cell, replace a thread or merge two entries on a saved chart. If a generated pattern already has progress, adjusted work saves as a copy to preserve it. Design changes require Pro; tracking existing projects remains accessible.

Mark stitches and count down each colour

Tap a cell or swipe a row or diagonal. Fill a connected area or a 10×10 block, undo the last ten marking actions, redo an undone action, and clear a colour's marks. Highlight one colour to restrict marking to it and find its next unmarked stitch.

Park threads and flag work to unpick

Park a thread in any corner of a cell, see the parked count for a colour and jump back to it. Flag a stitch to unpick later without changing the number already stitched.

Track the details beyond full crosses

Track backstitch and fractional work. When a supported import includes separate lines, knots or beads, mark those elements individually too. Their completion contributes to the overall progress, so finishing the crosses does not hide the remaining detail.

Make the chart comfortable to read

Zoom and pan, use the magnifier, jump to the centre, and adjust grid lines, centre marks, colour strength and mark style. Choose a symbols-only view or high-contrast marks. Keep the screen awake while stitching. On iPhone and iPad, VoiceOver can read and mark visible cells when zoomed in; supported phones give haptic marking feedback.

See your progress over time

View today's count, your streak, activity history and progress by colour. A finish estimate appears once there is enough stitching history. Check a chart's confetti assessment or highlight isolated stitches. Statistics stay on each device.

Keep your projects organised

Resume from Continue stitching, rename projects, sort and search by name or thread code, and add tags. Archive finished work, duplicate a chart for a fresh start or re-import its kept original. Re-importing the same file also offers the existing project.

Keep the reference beside the work

Open the original chart, keep reference photos and project notes, and record the designer and source. Track stitch-along parts and use a finishing checklist for washing, blocking, framing or gifting your work. Share an image of a completed counted chart from its finish screen.

Plan threads and your shopping list

Look up DMC threads and nearest-shade conversions for Anchor, Madeira, COSMO and Olympus. Check the match quality, change a thread or view a supported imported blend. Sort and search the thread list, record what you own and its dye lot, and see which threads you still need.

Estimate fabric and floss for a counted chart

Set the fabric count, stitching over one or two threads, strand count and mounting margin. Check the finished dimensions, cloth to cut and estimated skeins per colour. Estimates depend on those choices and your stitching, so compare them with the designer's guidance.

Sync across your Apple devices

Pro includes iCloud sync across iPhone, iPad and Mac using your own iCloud account. Stitch offline; changes sync when a connection is available. Project notes, tags, reference photos and supported specialty overlays travel with your charts. Android keeps its library locally and does not use iCloud sync.

Move projects with a Tondo file

Share a project from its library menu or export your library as a .tondo file and open it on another device, including across Apple and Android. It carries project data and merges existing progress; it is a manual transfer. Counted charts also export per-thread progress as CSV. Use Delete my data in Settings to erase Tondo's stored data.

Use a phone, tablet or Mac

Tondo supports iOS and iPadOS 17 or later, Android 8 or later, and macOS 14.4 or later on compatible Intel and Apple silicon Macs. Apple devices share one purchase, with Family Sharing on the App Store. Google Play has its own Pro purchase. On supported Apple devices, a Shortcut can resume your current chart.