Thread-to-bead and bead-to-thread conversion charts

Good morning! I wanted to add a small comment on the DMC to Delica conversion charts.

My regular hobby is cross stitching. Last year I decided to start bead looming after seeing a spectacular example of loom work in one of the issues B&B. I have a very large cross stitch pattern I purchased from Heaven and Earth Designs that I decided would look fantastic in beads. I started my process of gathering supplies. I too, do not have a ton of time and was sure someone had already gone through the tedious task of matching DMC to Delica which would make my life much easier.

I found three such charts online, the one from Fiber Gypsy, one from Caravan Beads (no longer up), and one from Blessed Beads (also no longer up). I went through the process of converting my 96 thread colors into the suggested Delica colors. Since the three charts varied widely between the colors, I splurged and purchased all of the delica sample cards so I could determine which of the three to choose. Taking those and my DMC sample card, I started double-checking the matches. After the first 25 or so colors ended up not being even close (a deep brown thread being matched to a lime green bead, for only one example), I decided to start over and do each one myself.

I understand that matching colors is largely personal preference, but I became very frustrated with how extreme the discrepancies were in the suggested colors.

I do not want to discredit the time and effort put into the charts, I just want to suggest that if someone is needing to convert DMC to Delica colors, don't rely solely on the numbers provided by those charts. Use that suggested match as a starting point and use your own judgement on whether or not it is the color you are looking for.