Color Palette
Overview
The Color Palette lives in the sidebar on the right side of the design window. It's divided into two sections — the Active Palette at the top and the WIF Palette below — along with three action buttons between them for working with colors. Together, these give you quick access to every color in your project and tools to manage them.
Active Palette
The Active Palette shows only the colors that are actually used in your current draft. If your WIF file contains 40 colors in its palette but your threading and treadling only use 5 of them, the Active Palette shows just those 5.
This makes it easy to find the colors you're working with without scrolling through unused entries.
How Colors Become "Active"
A color appears in the Active Palette when it's assigned to at least one warp thread or weft pick that has threading or treadling data. Empty threads and picks don't count — a color must be in use in the actual design.
The Active Palette updates automatically as you work. Add a new color to your threading and it appears; remove the last thread using a color and it disappears.
Selecting a Color
Click any color swatch in the Active Palette to select it as your current drawing color. The selected swatch shows a blue border to indicate it's active. This is the color that will be applied when you click on warp or weft color cells in the design.
Right-Click Options
Right-clicking any swatch in the Active Palette opens a context menu with three options:
Color Swap... — Replace this color with a different one
Color Exchange... — Exchange this color with another color
Edit Yarn... — Change the color, name, or yarn details
These same operations are available through the action buttons described below.
Action Buttons
Between the Active Palette and the WIF Palette you'll find three small icon buttons. These provide quick access to the color operations without needing to right-click:
Color Swap (circular arrows icon) — Replace one color with another
Color Exchange (opposing arrows icon) — Exchange two colors with each other
Edit Yarn (pencil icon) — Edit the selected color's details
The buttons are disabled until you select a color swatch. Once you click a swatch in either palette, the buttons become active and will operate on that selected color.
Color Swap
Color Swap replaces every instance of one color with a different color. It's a one-way operation — the source color is replaced, and the replacement color is unaffected elsewhere.
When to use it: You've threaded 200 ends in navy blue and decide you want them all in black instead.
How to Use Color Swap
Select the color you want to replace by clicking its swatch
Click the Color Swap button, or right-click the swatch and choose Color Swap...
The Color Swap dialog opens showing:
Swap From — The color you selected, with its name and details
Swap To — A list of all available colors in your palette. Colors currently in use in the design are shown in bold; unused colors appear in lighter text
Replace In — Choose where to apply the swap:
Entire Design — Both warp and weft (default)
Warp Only — Only warp threads
Weft Only — Only weft picks
Click a color in the "Swap To" list to select it as the replacement — a preview appears below the list
Click Apply
Every instance of the original color in the selected scope is replaced with the new color, including its yarn thickness if the replacement has different thickness metadata.
Color Exchange
Color Exchange exchanges two colors with each other simultaneously. Unlike Color Swap (which is one-way), Exchange is bidirectional — every instance of Color A becomes Color B, and every instance of Color B becomes Color A, all in a single operation. Without the exchange option, you would need a two-step process.
When to use it: You've woven a sample and realize the warp and tabby weft colors would look better reversed. Exchange lets you flip them in one step.
How to Use Color Exchange
Select one of the two colors you want to exchange
Click the Color Exchange button, or right-click the swatch and choose Color Exchange...
The Color Exchange dialog opens. It looks similar to Color Swap, but the "Exchange With" list shows only colors that are currently in use in your design — since exchanging with an unused color wouldn't be meaningful
Choose where to apply the exchange:
Entire Design — Both warp and weft
Warp Only — Only warp threads
Weft Only — Only weft picks
Select the other color and click Exchange
Both colors update everywhere they appear within the selected scope. The exchange happens atomically — you won't end up with all threads in one color partway through the operation.
Swap vs. Exchange — What's the Difference?
Direction
One-way: A is replaced by B
Two-way: A becomes B and B becomes A
Available colors
All palette colors (used and unused)
Only colors currently in the design
Use case
Replace a color with something new
Flip two existing colors
Result
Source color disappears from design
Both colors remain, in swapped positions
Edit Yarn
Edit Yarn opens a detailed editor for the selected color, letting you change its appearance, name, and yarn profile.
How to Open It
Click a swatch to select it, then click the Edit Yarn button (pencil icon)
Or right-click any swatch and choose Edit Yarn...
In the WIF Palette, right-click a swatch and choose Edit Yarn...
What You Can Edit
Color
Click Pick Color to open a color picker where you can choose a new RGB color
Click Pick from Screen to use an eyedropper tool — click anywhere on your screen to sample a color
The color preview updates in real time as you make changes
Yarn Information
Color Name — Give the color a descriptive name (e.g., "Teal," "Robin's Egg Blue," "Linen Natural"). This name appears in tooltips and in printed reports
Yarn Line — Record the brand or product (e.g., "8/2 Tencel - Lunatic Fringe," "Valley Yarns 2/8 Cotton"). This is helpful when you need to reorder yarn or share your project
Yarn Thickness — A scale from 1 to 16 that represents the relative thickness of the yarn. This affects how threads are drawn when thickness display is enabled
Sett Recommendations
Wide Sett — Your recommended sett for a loose or open weave
Medium Sett — Recommended sett for a balanced weave
Close Sett — Recommended sett for a dense or warp-faced weave
These are reference values for your own use and appear in the Reed Calculator.
Variegation The lower portion of the dialog lets you define a variegation profile for the yarn — how its color changes along its length. This is useful for representing hand-dyed, space-dyed, ombre, or self-striping yarns.
Available variegation types:
None — Solid color (default)
Space Dyed — Distinct color sections with sharp transitions
Ombre — Gradual color transitions
Self-Striping — Repeating color blocks
Heathered — Subtle color blending
Marled — Two or more colors twisted together
For variegated yarns you can set color stops (the colors and where they appear), repeat length, thread offset (to stagger the pattern across adjacent threads), and blend ratio.
When variegation display is enabled in the View settings, the palette swatches show a miniature gradient preview of the variegation pattern instead of a solid color.
WIF Palette
The WIF Palette shows every color defined in the WIF file, whether or not it's currently in use in the design. This is your full color library for the project.
Swatch Size
WIF Palette swatches are smaller (24x24 pixels) than Active Palette swatches, fitting three across in the sidebar. This allows you to see more colors at a glance.
Selecting Colors
Click any swatch to select it as your current drawing color, just like in the Active Palette. The selection is shared — selecting a color in either palette updates both.
Right-Click Options
Right-clicking a swatch in the WIF Palette opens a context menu with one option:
Edit Yarn... — Opens the Edit Yarn dialog for that color
Color Swap and Color Exchange are not available from the WIF Palette context menu because they operate on colors in use. Use the Active Palette or the action buttons for swap and exchange operations.
Sorting the WIF Palette
Right-click on the WIF Palette label (or on the palette background) to access sort options:
Original Order — Colors in the order they appear in the WIF file (default)
Hue — Sorted by position on the color wheel, from red through orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet
Lightness — Sorted from lightest to darkest
Color Family — Grouped by color family (reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, purples, neutrals), then sorted within each group
Warm to Cool — Warm colors (reds, oranges) first, progressing to cool colors (blues, purples)
Sorting helps you find colors quickly, especially in large palettes. The sort order is a display preference only — it doesn't change any data in your project.
Tooltips
Hovering over any color swatch shows a tooltip with available information about that color:
Color Name — If you've assigned one (e.g., "Sage Green")
Yarn Line — If you've entered yarn details (e.g., "JaggerSpun Zephyr 2/18")
Yarn Thickness — If it differs from the project default
Hex Value — The RGB hex code (e.g., #4A7C59) if no name is assigned
The more yarn information you enter through Edit Yarn, the more useful your tooltips become — especially when working with similar colors that are hard to tell apart on screen.
Tips
Name your colors early. A few seconds spent entering color names and yarn lines when you set up your project saves confusion later, especially when printing reports or revisiting the project months from now.
Use the Active Palette for daily work. It cuts through the clutter by showing only what's in your draft. The full WIF Palette is there when you need to add a new color.
Exchange is your friend for "what if" experiments. Wondering how your design would look with the warp and weft colors swapped? Color Exchange lets you try it instantly, and Undo brings it right back.
Sort by Color Family for large palettes. If your WIF has dozens of colors, sorting by family makes it much easier to find the shade you're looking for.
Variegation profiles make your screen match your yarn. If you're working with hand-dyed or space-dyed yarns, taking a few minutes to set up a variegation profile gives you a much more realistic preview of your finished cloth.
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