MacStitch for Mac

MacStitch 2014 for Mac offers dozens of features and options in an incredibly deep interface for creating custom patterns on your Mac. The result, while strict in its learning curve, can be an extremely powerful tool for anyone who creates their own patterns or wants to customize the patterns they purchase online on their Mac.

Installation of MacStitch is straightforward and takes only a moment. After loading it from your Applications folder, you can start using it right away, though it recommends you open the Help folder, a recommendation we agree with. The interface is very dense when you first open it, with options across almost every square inch of the screen, so the tutorial will help you find what you need. Once you get the hang of it, however, the interface makes perfect sense, offering access to different size, color, and types of stitches, easily, allowing you to zoom in and out on a design with the tap of a button and giving you options for accessing alphabet presets, motifs, and more. And because you can save the files in formats that can be opened on PCs, you can upload to share with people online or you can download and edit other designs from the Internet. Combined with innovative features that allow you to convert photos to design bases and match colors for certain types of materials, the app is designed with the people who will use it in mind.

While MacStitch may seem intimidating at first glance, there is a very deep, very feature-rich app here for those who master it. Whether you want to customize your designs or want to take full control of the designs you download and plan on using, this is a great app. It is free to try and after the initial trial period will cost $43 to upgrade permanently.

Editors' note: This is a review of the trial version of MacStitch 2014 for Mac 8.3.