Backstitch and stitch types

Backstitch (K)

Backstitch lines run along the grid, from one corner of a stitch to another, over the cross stitches. Use them for outlines, fine lines and lettering.

1. Pick a thread from the thread list, and the Backstitch tool.
2. Click the corner where the line starts, then the corner where it ends. You can also press on the start and drag to the end.
3. To carry straight on into the next line, hold Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) as you place the end: that end starts the next line.
4. Double-click or press Escape to end a run.

The right mouse button draws with the second drawing colour. Each line is one step to undo, and symmetry mirrors it.

Backstitch lies over every layer. In the thread list, a Backstitch section shows each thread's length of backstitch.

BS edit (J)

BS edit changes lines already drawn:

• Press a line to select it, and drag to move it. Moves snap to the corners of the grid.
• With one line selected, drag either end to re-aim it.
• Double-click a line to select the whole run it is part of: every line joined end to end in the same thread.
• Press on empty space to let go of the selection.

The bar above the chart shows how many lines are selected, with these buttons:

Button	Key	What it does
Copy, Paste	Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V	Copy the selected lines, and paste them.
Duplicate	Ctrl+D	Leaves the lines where they are and takes a copy in hand.
Mirror ↔, Mirror ↕		Mirror the lines left to right, or top to bottom.
Turn ↺, Turn ↻		Turn the lines a quarter turn.
Recolour		Gives the selected lines the thread in hand.
Delete	Delete	Deletes the selected lines.
Deselect	Escape	Puts the lines down.

Pasted and duplicated lines land three stitches down and to the right. Mirroring and turning work around the selected lines themselves, not the middle of the chart. Every change is one step you can undo.

How backstitch looks

• In Colour and B&W, each backstitch thread has a line style of its own: solid, dashed, dotted, dash-dot or long dash, so you can tell threads apart in black and white. The thread with the most backstitch is solid.
• In Stitched, lines are drawn plain.
• On printed A4 pages and the full chart PNG, the line styles are kept, and long lines carry their thread's symbol. The colour key gives each backstitch thread's length.
• The PDF for Pattern Keeper has no backstitch on its chart pages.
• The OXS file keeps every line as drawn, for other programs.

Half stitches

The drawing tools can lay a whole stitch, or a half stitch in either direction, / or \, with their Stitch type option. See Drawing.

• On screen and in A4 pages and pictures, a half stitch is drawn as a diagonal across its square.
• A chart with half stitches lists Full stitches and Half stitches in its details, and its colour key has a row for each thread and stitch type.
• A half stitch uses about half the thread of a whole one, which the skein counts allow for.
• The PDF for Pattern Keeper and the OXS file turn half stitches into whole ones, as those programs read whole stitches only.
• Mirroring and turning a piece, or drawing with symmetry, turns / into \ where the mirror image needs it.