A family portrait cross-stitch from your photo
Short answer: crop the group tightly, go as wide as you're willing to stitch (150 to 200 stitches), and use all 18 colours. If faces still look tiny in the preview, a smaller group or separate portraits will look better.
The problem with groups
Each person in a group photo gets a slice of the pattern's width. Four people across 100 stitches means each face is only a few stitches wide. In the preview, faces should be at least 20 stitches across to look like anyone.
Ways to make it work
- Crop tight: heads and shoulders only.
- Go wide: the full 200 stitches.
- Split it: one pattern per person, framed together.
- Choose a silhouette: people from behind on a beach or at sunset need far less detail than faces.
Try your family photo in the previewUpload a photo, choose the size and colours, and see the full pattern before you pay. Your photo never leaves your device.Make my pattern
Questions people ask
How many people can a cross-stitch portrait show?
It depends on the width. At 200 stitches, two to four people cropped close can work. Larger groups lose their faces.
Should I make one pattern or several?
If faces look too small in the preview, separate portraits usually look better.
More guides
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- Turn a photo of your cat into a cross-stitch pattern
- A pet memorial cross-stitch from your own photo
- Turn a wedding photo into a cross-stitch pattern
- A cross-stitch pattern from a baby photo
- Turn a photo of a house into a cross-stitch pattern
- Which photos make good cross-stitch patterns?
- How big will my cross-stitch be?
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- How many colours should a photo pattern have?
- How your photo's colours become DMC thread numbers