DMC to Anchor Conversion: Why Matches Are Approximate

You have a chart that lists DMC numbers and a drawer full of Anchor, or the other way round. Every search result offers a neat two-column table. What almost none of them tell you is that the two brands never designed their ranges to line up, so every row in that table is somebody's judgement of the nearest shade, not a match.

For a cartoon cat or a Christmas motif, the nearest shade is fine. For a chart made from a photograph, where five browns sit next to each other in a dog's coat, a conversion table can quietly merge two of them or swap which one is darker. This page explains why, using what the two makers state about their own threads, and how to convert a chart without that happening.

DMC and Anchor floss side by side

Everything in this table comes from each maker's own product page, as of September 2026.

Sources: DMC Six-Strand Embroidery Floss, DMC thread color card, Anchor Stranded Cotton Mouliné and Anchor Embroidery Thread Shade Card.

Two things stand out. First, the threads are built the same way, so swapping brands changes nothing about strands, coverage or how far a skein goes. Second, the last row: the conversion question lives entirely outside the two manufacturers' product information.

One company, two ranges

Anchor's website footer describes the brand as "a division of DMC SAS". It is tempting to assume that means the colors now line up. Nothing on either site says so: Anchor still sells its own range under its own numbers, and its stranded cotton page mentions no DMC equivalents. Until one of the two publishes a cross-reference, treat conversions exactly as you would have before.

Why a DMC to Anchor match can only be approximate

The ranges are different sizes

This is plain arithmetic, using the totals on each maker's product page. DMC's product page lists 500 shades (its other pages give different totals, such as 489 on the printed card, so read 56 as approximate); Anchor lists 444 solid colors. If you give every DMC shade its nearest solid Anchor shade, at least 56 of the DMC shades have to share an Anchor number with another DMC shade, because there are 56 more DMC shades than Anchor ones. More can collide than that, because nothing makes the two ranges spread their shades the same way: where one brand has several close steps in a color family, the other may have fewer.

That's why an Anchor to DMC table and a DMC to Anchor table built by the same person often don't reverse cleanly. Converting a number there and back can land you on a different shade from the one you started with.

The ranges were dyed independently

Each brand numbers and dyes its own range, and neither maker's product page claims its shades were built to mirror the other's. Some pairs are very close. Others are the best of a poor set of options, and a table gives them exactly the same weight on the page as the close ones.

Most tables compare approximations, not threads

A conversion is only as good as the color data behind it. Many online tables don't say how they were made. Any that are built from screen colors inherit the weakness of screen colors: a digital value for a dyed cotton is an approximation made under some lighting, not the thread itself. We say the same about our own data. The DMC color values in our generator are approximations of dyed cotton under unspecified lighting, which is why the site tells you thread colors are approximate. DMC colors on screen vs real thread explains where that gap comes from.

The only honest reference is the thread. Both makers sell swatch cards with real thread samples of every shade, and that's the check that settles a doubtful pair.

Where conversions go wrong on a photo chart

A designed chart uses a handful of well-separated colors: a red, a green, a gold. Swap each for its nearest equivalent and the design still reads, because the colors were never close to each other.

A photo chart is the opposite. It describes gradual changes in tone with many neighboring shades, which is exactly where conversion tables are weakest. Three failures show up again and again.

Two shades merge. Two DMC browns in a coat convert to the same Anchor number. The chart now has two symbols for one thread, and the boundary between them, which carried a fold of fur or the edge of a cheek, disappears.

Two shades swap order. DMC shade A is lighter than DMC shade B. Their nearest Anchor matches each sit a little off, and the one that replaces A comes out darker than the one that replaces B. The gradient now runs light, dark, light, and the eye reads it as a stripe or a smudge.

The family drifts. Each individual swap looks acceptable, but every converted skin tone leans slightly warmer, or every gray slightly bluer. No single pair looks wrong on the table; the whole face does on the fabric.

None of this matters much on a silhouette or a bold graphic. It matters a lot in faces, fur and skies, which is most of what people turn into photo charts. How many colors a photo pattern should use explains why those areas need so many close shades in the first place.

When converting is fine, and when it isn't

How to convert a chart without ruining it

If you do need to convert, whether for price, availability or a stash you already own, work shade by shade rather than trusting a table in one pass.

1. List every color in the key with its stitch count, largest first. The big colors matter most, and the tiny ones can often stay in the original brand.
2. Find a candidate for each from a conversion table or an app, and write it next to the original number.
3. Look for duplicates. If two original numbers point to the same converted number, flag the pair. You'll need a second candidate for one of them, or keep that pair in the original brand.
4. Group by family (the browns together, the grays together) and put each group in order from light to dark by the original chart.
5. Check the converted group in the same order, in real thread, in daylight. A step that runs backwards is a swap. A step you can't see is a merge.
6. Replace or keep. For each failed pair, try the next nearest shade, or keep the original brand for that family.
7. Update the key before you stitch. Write the new number beside each symbol and wind your floss cards from the updated key, not from memory.
8. Recalculate skeins only where colors merged. A color that stays separate needs the same skein count, because both brands sell 8 meter, six-strand skeins. Where you've deliberately merged two colors, add their stitch counts together and work the skeins out again. The method is in how much embroidery floss you need.

The daylight check in step 5 is the one people skip, and it's the one that catches the errors. If you don't own a swatch card, a local shop with both ranges on display works just as well: hold the skeins side by side by a window.

Mixing brands in one piece

Mixing DMC and Anchor in one project is common and physically harmless: same fiber, same six strands, same skein length. Two habits keep it looking deliberate.

• Keep each color family in one brand. Mix brands between areas, such as an Anchor background behind a DMC portrait, rather than within a gradient.
• Keep the whole of a big area in one dye bath if you can. Anchor's own page recommends buying all the thread you need up front to avoid dye lot differences; DMC says its colors are faithfully reproduced so a project can be finished in the same color. Buying the dominant color all at once is the cautious choice with either brand, as the DMC floss guide explains.

Washing is where the makers' published guidance differs most. Anchor's care label for the skein allows a machine wash at 95°C. DMC's guidance for finished needlework is cold water, a small amount of non-biological detergent, and stopping if the rinse water turns colored. On a finished piece that mixes brands, follow the gentler instruction. The Cross Stitch Guild's check is quick: press a damp white tissue against the back of the stitches, and if it picks up color, don't wash the piece.

Old charts and retired numbers

Conversions get harder with older patterns. A chart from decades ago may list a number that its maker no longer sells, and a conversion table built from the current range simply won't have that row. Before you convert, check the original number still exists in the original brand. Discontinued DMC colors covers what to do when it doesn't.

Choosing a tool if you stitch in Anchor

Our generator matches photos to DMC only. If you want a photo chart in DMC, that's a direct match with no conversion step, and you can see it in the free preview before you pay. If you stitch mainly in Anchor, a tool that matches to Anchor's range directly will do better than converting a DMC chart afterwards. Stitchmate, for example, says its color database covers more than 50 floss brands, including the full Anchor stranded cotton range, and that its conversions use color science rather than lookup tables, as of September 2026. Cross stitch pattern generators compared sets out what each tool supports.

Whichever you choose, the rule doesn't change: a number is a promise within one brand. Across brands, the thread in your hand has the final word.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an official DMC to Anchor conversion chart?

Not on either maker's product pages. As of September 2026, neither DMC's six-strand floss page nor Anchor's stranded cotton page lists equivalents in the other brand. The conversion charts you find online are made by retailers, designers and apps, and most don't say how their matches were chosen, so treat every pair as a suggestion to check.

Are DMC and Anchor colors the same?

No. They are two separate shade ranges with their own numbers. DMC lists 500 shades of six-strand floss and Anchor lists 444 solid colors of stranded cotton, so some DMC shades must share an Anchor match or have no close one. A conversion gives the nearest Anchor shade, which on a bold motif is usually close enough.

Can I mix DMC and Anchor in the same project?

Yes. Both are six-strand, 100% cotton threads sold in 8 meter skeins, so they stitch the same way on the same fabric. The risk is color, not technique: a converted shade can sit slightly lighter or darker than the one beside it. Keep each area in one brand where you can, and check neighboring shades together in daylight.

Does DMC own Anchor now?

Anchor's own website describes Anchor as a division of DMC SAS, as of September 2026. Shared ownership doesn't merge the colors: Anchor still sells its own stranded cotton range under its own shade numbers, and its product page doesn't list DMC equivalents. Conversions between the two are still approximate.

Why did two DMC colors convert to the same Anchor number?

Because both DMC shades were closest to the same Anchor shade. With 500 DMC shades and 444 solid Anchor colors, that has to happen somewhere. On a photo chart it merges two areas the design kept apart. Pick a different nearby Anchor shade for one of them, or keep that pair in DMC.

Do I need a different number of skeins when I convert?

Not per color, as long as the colors stay separate. Both brands sell 8 meter skeins of six strands, so a converted color needs the same skeins as the DMC one. If two DMC colors merge into one Anchor shade, add their stitch counts together and work out the skeins again for the combined total.

Sources

• DMC — Six-Strand Embroidery Floss (100% cotton, 8.7 yd / 8 m, six strands, 500 shades, colorfast dyes, colors faithfully reproduced)
• DMC — Thread color card with real swatches (485 solid and 18 variegated six-strand colors)
• DMC — How to clean and wash finished needlework (cold water, stop if the rinse water is colored)
• Anchor — Stranded Cotton Mouliné (100% cotton, 8 m, six strands, 444 solid colors plus 16 ombre, dye lot advice, care label)
• Anchor — Embroidery Thread Shade Card (real thread swatches; "a division of DMC SAS")
• The Cross Stitch Guild — Cross stitch FAQs (damp tissue colorfastness check)
• Stitchmate — Features (floss brands, Anchor range and conversions)