What's New in 1.6 & Tips

Hello, stitchers! We've been busy. Since our last release, StitchALot Studio has picked up a whole importer for your Stitchly library, razor-sharp printed charts, cloud sync across your Apple devices, new shapes to drop in, and a faster, calmer launch on every platform.

Here are the highlights worth opening the app for — and three quick tricks at the end to make your next project easier.

New & Improved

Bring your Stitchly patterns over

Open a .stitchly file straight from File → Import → Stitchly — or import an entire folder at once. Your grid, canvas size, fabric count, and strand count come across exactly, colors are matched to your DMC thread library (specialty threads like Satin and Étoile map to their base color automatically), and every color keeps a clear StitchALot symbol. Anything that can't be matched imports as a labeled placeholder, so nothing is ever lost.

Dramatically sharper printed charts

Chart PDFs are now drawn as true vector graphics instead of embedded images, so symbols, gridlines, and numbers print razor-sharp at any resolution — and the files are a fraction of their old size. Charts default to a new Large Print layout with bold symbols and a heavy line every 5 cells, with row and column numbers on all four sides. Wide or tall patterns now split into evenly sized sections, so you'll never get a near-empty sliver of a last page.

Your library, synced across devices (Mac & iPad)

Turn on iCloud Sync and your patterns live in iCloud Drive, syncing between your Mac and iPad — and showing up as a StitchALot Studio folder in Finder and the Files app so you can browse and back them up yourself. You're always in control: a dedicated iCloud Sync window lets you turn it on or off, keep a copy on-device, and combine patterns (folders and all) when they exist in two places.

New shapes to drop into your design

The Shape Library now offers a heart, five-pointed star, and triangle — and the long-missing clover is back. Place any of them filled or as an outline, in any palette color and size, on their own layer so you can position before committing. There's now a Shapes button right in the toolbar, and you can even save your current canvas as a reusable shape.

Erase a whole color in one click

A small rust ✕ now appears on any in-use color in the Palette — click it to remove every stitch of that color on the current layer at once, instead of erasing cell by cell. It's perfect for dropping the background after importing a photo. Fully undoable, and confirmed the first time so you can't do it by accident.

A faster, calmer launch

Startup got a real polish across the board: no more dark flash or misplaced window on Windows, the home screen is fully drawn the moment the splash fades, and previews load in parallel so large libraries open far faster. On iPad, we cleared out the crash paths affecting iPadOS 26 for a stable open every time.

Tips & Tricks

Clean up an imported photo fast

Imported an image and want the background gone? Instead of erasing cell by cell, click the rust ✕ on that color in the Palette — it clears every stitch of that color on the active layer at once. The color stays in your palette, and it's fully undoable if you change your mind.

Move your whole Stitchly library over

You don't have to import one file at a time. Choose File → Import → Stitchly → Folder, point it at a folder, and every .stitchly pattern inside comes in at once — each matched to your DMC threads and named after the source file. Imports land in whatever folder you're currently viewing on the home screen.

Print a chart that lines up with your canvas

For a chart that matches your canvas holes exactly, use Export → PDF → True Size — it prints each cell at precisely 1 / mesh-count inch. Just be sure to print at 100% / Actual Size (not "Fit to Page"), and the chart will overlay your canvas perfectly.

Every one of these came from stitchers like you. Share what's working, what you'd love to see, and show off your latest project right on the forum.

Happy stitching,
The StitchALot Studio team