How to review and reduce cross stitch confetti

What “confetti” means here

Scattered thread changes can make a chart harder to follow, but “confetti” is not a universal quality score. Crosy's single-stitch diagnostic counts a stitch using same-color orthogonal neighbors. It is a bounded signal for review, not a claim that every isolated stitch should be removed.

Review the chart before cleanup

Look at the photo, the chart, the key, the grid size, and the palette together. Fewer colors can remove useful detail, while a larger grid can change how much work a chart needs. There is no universal setting that makes every photo or stitcher happier.

Compare Islands and Merge separately

You can adjust Islands, Merge and Protect and preview their color changes for free. Applying a Clean preview requires Pro. All plans can edit individual stitches manually.

In Clean, review one operation at a time:

1. Islands reviews isolated same-color areas.
2. Merge reviews nearby color changes and shows the proposed mapping.
3. Open Preview and compare the actual chart, swatches, codes, and before/after counts.
4. Use Back to cancel the preview or Apply to make one undoable edit.

Do not treat a lower single-stitch count as an automatic recommendation. The changed chart may lose a useful eye, outline, or other photo detail even when the number falls.

Protect intentional details

Use Protect for regions or thread details that should stay out of the Clean pass. Protection applies to these Islands and Merge operations; it does not block ordinary Draw, Erase, or Move work. Check the protected example in the chart before applying the change.

Inspect the result and keep the original path

After Apply, read the chart and key again and compare the image detail you meant to preserve. Undo is available for the single applied edit. When the result is ready, use the export guide to choose a visual file or a native Crosy backup. Visible-file formats omit off-board content; the native Crosy backup keeps it.