Charts
How to read a symbol chart
A symbol chart is a grid where each letter stands for one color in the legend. Read the legend first. Then follow a row. The picture is the legend applied to the grid, not a second mystery.
On Pixelate Tools, A is the most used color, B is the next, then C, down through the alphabet and digits if you really used that many. A 12-color chart uses A through L. The letter isn't a floss number and not a bead brand code. The floss id, when you're on the stitch page, is the text next to the letter, such as 310 Black. The letter only exists so a cell can show a mark that prints clearly.
Walk one row
Say row 8 of a 40-wide chart starts A A A B B . . C. You stitch three of the A color, two of the B color, skip two empty cells, then one C. Empty means skip, not white. White is a symbol if it's in the legend, with its own letter and a count. People fill "blank" with leftover white thread and then wonder why the face grew a border. Don't.
Print the chart if you're leaving the screen. The Print chart button uses the browser print dialog. In the print preview, check that the letters are still readable. If the grid is 60 wide, you may need landscape paper or a scale like 80 percent. The on-screen cells are 22 CSS pixels. That's enough at a desk, tight on a phone. For a phone, trust the legend counts and stitch from a printed page, or drop the width until the table fits.
Use the counts before you shop
Each legend row ends in a count: the number of cells of that color. If A is ×640 on a 40×50 chart, more than half the piece is that one color, usually background. Crop and convert again if you didn't mean to stitch a wall. If a color is ×4, it's an eye highlight or a mistake. Zoom the source, or paint those four cells to a neighbor color before you buy a skein for four stitches.
Add the counts. They should equal the number of filled cells, not always width times height, because empty cells aren't in the legend. A 29×29 bead board has 841 pegs. If the legend sums to 700, you've 141 empties. That's fine for a shaped design. It's a bug if you expected a full square and the corner drop removed the background color you still wanted.
Don't lose your place
Stitch one row, then mark it. A ruler, a magnetic strip, or a pencil tick on the printout. The chart won't highlight the row for you. On long rows, count in groups of ten symbols. 40 wide is four groups. Losing count by one and stitching the rest of the row shifted is the error that ruins a face. The cross-stitch setup suggests 40 to 60 cells for a first photo for this reason. Wider charts are easier to miscount.
Beads use the same table. The letter is a bead color in the reference palette, not a Perler code. Match the hex to your bag. The buying math is in how many fuse beads. The converters are cross-stitch and fuse beads.
If two letters look like the same color on your monitor, trust the hex and the id, not the screen. A cheap laptop shifts reds. The symbol still distinguishes them on paper, which is another reason to print before you commit thread. Changing the Colors slider rebuilds the letters from scratch. A isn't stable across edits. Finish the image, then print once, and stitch that print. Don't keep a second tab open with a different color count and mix the legends.
Mistakes that waste an evening
Stitching from a legend that doesn't match the paper on the table. Mixing two exports because Colors moved between prints. Treating empty cells as "white thread" when white isn't in the legend. Buying thread for ×4 stitches before zooming the chart to see if those four are noise.
Before you buy or pour materials
For diamond painting, the same letter rules apply on the diamond page, but bag ordering follows drill counts, not skeins. One letter per color on that export only. Re-read the legend after every slider move, even when the picture on screen looks unchanged.
Questions
Does A always mean the same floss?
No. A is the most common color in this chart. The next chart you make will assign A to whatever is most common there.
What's an empty cell?
A cell with no symbol isn't stitched or beaded. It's background. Don't fill it with white unless white is in the legend.
Where is the stitch count?
In the legend, the number after the hex is the cell count for that color. Add those numbers if you want the total filled cells.
Why did letter A change after I moved Colors?
Letters are rebuilt from scratch on each export. A always means most common on this chart, not a fixed thread.
Can I stitch from the HTML chart on screen?
You can, but print or PDF is safer. Zoom and scroll make row shifts more likely on a phone.
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Updated 30 September 2026