DMC floss and Delica Beads
Conversion charts for DMC floss to (and from) Delica Beads in PDF form. Prepared with the help of Caravan Beads.
Important Note: These charts were last updated in 2009. Both DMC and Delica have added new colors since then; those additions are not reflected on these charts.
Click here for the chart that shows which Delica beads match each DMC floss color.
Click here for the chart that shows which DMC floss matches each Delica bead color.
Caveats
Please use these charts as a guide (rather than absolute gospel). You should check the colors and shades carefully yourself, where possible, before relying on any conversion chart because:
- Color comparisons are subject to lighting and personal preference. Even comparisons made in natural light may differ slightly depending on the viewer's latitude -- the angle of the sun can affect the color of its light!
- Dye lots -- in both beads and threads -- can vary slightly.
- Manufacturers do, on occasion, shift portions of their palette. Note in particular that DMC shifted significant portions of their palette slightly in 1995. Click here for more information.
- Bead texture (e.g., matte or luster) is difficult to duplicate in thread. In general, rayon threads are shinier than cotton or silk floss, which themselves are shinier than flower thread.
- Some metallic beads present a special problem, since they can show several colors. These have been treated on the charts as "multiple colors" and shown as combinations of two or three thread colors (with a "+" between). In all cases the first thread number is the dominant color of the beads.
- Although DMC uses a very broad color palette, there isn't a perfect correlation. Some of the colors are very, very close but not quite an exact match. Blues, blue-greens, and turquoise are perhaps the most problematic, especially when correlating threads to beads.
DMC Color Shift of 1995
For various reasons, DMC shifted certain colors in February of 1995. Many conversion charts still available use the old colors; be sure to check the date of any such resource.
Most changes were slight. "New" grays tend to be bluer than the old; shades that are most noticeably different are:
| 317 | 318 | 320 | 413 | 414 |
| 415 | 503 | 504 | 762 | 959 |
| 977 | 991 | 3363 | 3799 | |
And, of course, any pattern or chart that uses DMC colors and was published before the date of the shift must be carefully handled when substituting another thread line for DMC. If you are trying to work with an older chart, you should check your results from this database carefully to be sure you achieve the desired match.
All that having been said, I hope you will find these charts useful!
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