Free latch hook pattern maker: turn a photo into a rug chart
Turn a photo or picture into a latch hook rug pattern, free and in your browser with nothing uploaded: choose your canvas mesh and the finished size, and get a symbol chart, a colour key with the number of yarn pieces for each colour, and a printable PDF.
Faster with the free Chrome extension: right-click any picture on a website and send it straight to the latch hook pattern maker. Add to Chrome · what it does
Extension installed. Right-click any picture on a website and choose Makerfern → Open this picture in… to bring it here.
A rug chart you can hook from
Latch hook canvas is a grid of holes, and every hole takes one piece of yarn, so a rug pattern is a picture reduced to one coloured square per hole. Put in the canvas mesh (holes per inch) and the width you want, and the tool works out how many holes across and down, reduces the picture to the number of yarn colours you choose, and counts the pieces of each. Specks of one hole are tidied into the colour around them, with a control, so the chart is not confetti.
What you get
- The chart, on screen and as a PDF on US Letter or A4: a symbol and a colour for every hole and a bold line every 10. On screen the numbers run along the left and top edges; the PDF numbers every edge, marks the middle row and column with arrows, and splits a rug bigger than a page over overlapping pages, with a page map on the cover.
- The piece count for each colour, exact, with a spare allowance and packs worked out from a pack size you can change. Pack size and piece length are assumptions, labelled as such.
- A chart PNG and a CSV of the grid, with a colour key and the counts.
How to use it
- Drop a picture, paste one, or start from the sample.
- Choose the mesh printed on your canvas, 3.75 or 5 holes per inch or your own, and the finished width. The height follows from the picture.
- Set the colour limit and the smallest patch until the chart looks right.
- Check the pieces and packs in the key, change the pack size to the one on your yarn, and download the PDF.
What it does not do
- It does not match yarn brands or shade names. Colours are generic names and hex codes.
- It does not know your yarn's pack size or piece length: they are assumptions you can change.
- It does not print on canvas. The chart is a guide to hook from.
Questions
What canvas mesh should I choose?
The one printed on your canvas, as holes per inch. 3.75 and 5 holes per inch are common choices for latch hook canvas; the finer the mesh, the more holes (and yarn pieces) a rug of the same size needs. Choose "Custom" for any other count. The number of holes across is the finished width times the mesh, and the rows follow from the picture's proportions.
How many yarn pieces will I need?
One piece goes in every hole, so the count of each colour is exact: it is the number of holes of that colour in the chart. The "Buy" figure adds 5% for pieces that are dropped, cut short or hooked wrong, and you can change that percentage. The total of all colours is the number of holes in the rug.
Where do the pack sizes and piece length come from?
They are assumptions, shown as such, and you can change them. Pre-cut latch hook yarn is often about 2.5 in long, and we assume packs of 500 pieces, but pack sizes and lengths vary by maker and we have not found a standard, so replace them with the numbers on your yarn's label. The yarn length for people who cut their own is the pieces times the piece length, as an estimate.
Does it give yarn brand colours?
No. The colours are the picture's own or the nearest of about 60 generic yarn colours with plain names, each with a hex code. Yarn makers name and dye their own shades, so take the name and hex to your yarn shop and match by eye.
What size can a rug be?
Up to 400 holes across and 600 rows. A 24 in wide rug on 3.75-hole canvas is 90 holes across. A large chart is split over several pages that repeat 3 holes and rows from the next page, shaded, so the pages line up, and a map on the cover shows where each page sits.
Why are some tiny details gone?
A hole is a big pixel. "Smallest patch of one colour" joins any patch smaller than the number you choose to the colour around it; the default of 2 removes single holes, which are slow to hook and look like specks. Set it to 1 to keep every hole. Photos with fine detail need more holes: choose a finer mesh or a bigger rug.
How do I read the chart?
Each cell is one hole and each symbol one colour from the key. The grid is bold every 10 holes counted from the top left, rows are numbered from the top, and arrows on the page edges mark the middle row and column. The chart PDF can be printed in colour or in black and white.
What can I download?
A chart PDF on US Letter or A4 with a cover (the picture, a page map, the size, the piece counts and their assumptions), the key and the tiled chart in colour and black and white; a chart PNG; and a CSV of the grid with a colour key and the counts.
Is anything uploaded?
No. The picture is read, charted and drawn in your browser and the files are saved from memory on your computer.