Guides

Removing an image background

Leave the fabric showing around your subject, or keep the whole scene in your pattern. This guide explains the choices in the Pattern Maker and Adjust chart.

Choosing a background option

The Background menu has the same choices in the initial form and in Adjust chart. Background removal leaves empty, unstitched areas; it does not replace the background with white thread.

Keep background

Use this when the background is part of your design, such as a landscape or a scene. Areas that are already transparent in an uploaded PNG stay unstitched, so a ready-made transparent cutout usually needs no further removal.

Simple removal

Start here for a drawing, logo or text on a plain, single-colour background. This quick method looks for the background colour around the image edges. In Illustration / Drawing / Logo mode, it also clears small enclosed gaps, such as the centres of letters. Similar colours within the subject can be removed too, so check pale details against white backgrounds and dark details against black backgrounds.

Orange cat illustration on a flat purple background — **Before:** one flat background colour makes this a good choice for Simple removal.

Generated cat pattern with the purple background and gaps between its legs left unstitched — **After Simple removal:** the white areas show bare fabric. The illustration has also been converted to stitches and matched to thread colours.

Smart cutout

Try this for a subject on a shaded, photographic or busy background. It tries to identify the subject, rather than looking for one background colour. It works with both image types and takes longer than Simple removal. Smart cutout appears when it is available.

Orange cat illustration on a background that changes from dark green to olive — **Before:** the green background changes shade, so there is no single colour to remove.

Generated cat pattern with the green gradient and gaps between its legs left unstitched — **After Smart cutout:** the subject is kept and the surrounding background is left unstitched.

Both pattern examples use Illustration / Drawing / Logo mode, a longest side of 100 stitches, a maximum of 12 colours and DMC thread matching. Your result will vary with the image, size and colours you choose.

Check the result before stitching. Smart cutout can miss thin details, keep patches of background, or mistake decorative shapes for part of the subject. Look closely at tails, ears, fur and gaps between limbs. Crop distracting surroundings first, try Simple removal for a plain background, or use the editor's eraser for remaining stitches.

To try a different option, open Adjust chart, choose a background setting, then click Rebuild chart. This uses the original image and can replace manual stitch edits; save your work before rebuilding. Choosing Keep background restores the original image's background.

Back to the Pattern Maker guide

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