Cross Stitch Aurora

Cross Stitch Aurora is a cross stitch app. The pattern fills the screen: you mark the stitches you have finished and see straight away what is left. The next day you carry on from the same place.

Patterns to stitch

Your projects sit in a library, with folders, search, and a preview that shows what percentage is already stitched. Open a finished pattern from a file: PDF, Pattern Maker, PCStitch, and OXS. The pages become one pattern you stitch, not a stack of pictures to flip through.

Marking stitches

A short tap marks a stitch or clears it. Drag a finger along a row and the squares under it fill in as you go. When you stitch one colour at a time, that floss number stays bright and the rest fades back. Park the thread in a corner of a square so you can see where the needle stopped. That mark is not a finished stitch. A grid, rulers, and a small map of the pattern help you find your place after you zoom in. Set how many stitches you want to finish in one sitting, and see how many are left before you reach that goal.

The pattern includes full crosses, half stitches, quarter stitches, backstitch, French knots, and beads. You can view it as symbols, or as if the stitches were already lying on the fabric.

Floss and fabric

The key shows each floss number and how many stitches of that colour are still to stitch. The app works out how many skeins the pattern needs for your fabric, and checks that against what you already have at home. If something is missing, you can see what to buy. The catalogue includes DMC, Gamma, PNK Kirov, Anchor, and Madeira. A number in one brand converts to a number in another, such as DMC to Gamma. PNK Kirov keeps both the older numbers and the newer four-digit ones, which helps if the skeins were bought years ago.

A pattern from a photo

You can start from a blank chart and build the pattern yourself. A photo becomes a grid of crosses and a list of floss to stitch with. In the editor you change colours, symbols, and stitches.

Patterns stay on your phone. You can add three of your own, one from a PDF, and one from a photo without paying. After that, the full app is a one-time purchase and does not run out. What is already in your library can still be stitched for free.

This app is not affiliated with DMC, Anchor, Madeira, Gamma, PNK Kirov, or Zweigart. Colours on screen are close to the floss, but check the skein in the light you stitch by.