Anchor to DMC Thread Converter
Enter an Anchor stranded cotton number and get the five DMC floss colors closest to it, ranked by CIEDE2000 ΔE. Neither brand publishes color values that we could find, so this compares open color lists rather than reading an official chart, and each match says whether two independent DMC lists agree on that thread.
Anchor 403
Nearest DMC threads by color
- DMC 310 Black≈ #000000ExcellentΔE 0.85Stable in both lists
- DMC 3371 Black Brown≈ #1E1108DistantΔE 9.19Lists disagree
- DMC 938 Coffee Brown Ultra Dark≈ #361F0EDistantΔE 17.08Lists disagree
- DMC 3799 Pewter Gray Very Dark≈ #424242DistantΔE 18.09Lists disagree
- DMC 844 Beaver Gray Ultra Dark≈ #484848DistantΔE 20.05Lists disagree
Not an official conversion. These are the DMC threads nearest in on-screen color. Printed and shop charts may pair a different number, and open thread lists disagree with each other, so compare real skeins before you swap threads in a pattern.
Anchor to DMC examples
| Anchor | Nearest DMC | ΔE |
|---|---|---|
| 403 Black | 310 Black | 0.8 |
| 1 Snow White | B5200 Snow White | 0.0 |
| 46 Crimson Red | 817 Coral Red Very Dark | 7.5 |
| 9046 Christmas Red | 817 Coral Red Very Dark | 6.3 |
| 134 Blue Very Dark | 939 Navy Blue Very Dark | 8.8 |
| 2 White | B5200 Snow White | 0.9 |
How the match is found
The Anchor thread's color and each of the 489 DMC colors are converted to CIELAB and compared with CIEDE2000. The five closest are shown with their ΔE: below 1 the difference is not visible, 1 to 3 is a good match, 3 to 6 is noticeable but similar, and from 6 up the thread is visibly different. Both colors are on-screen estimates from open lists, so the result is a shortlist, not a verdict.
Anchor to DMC: questions
- How do I convert an Anchor number to DMC?
- Type the Anchor number above and pick the DMC thread with the lowest ΔE. For example, Anchor 403 Black is nearest to DMC 310 Black (ΔE 0.8). Below ΔE 1 the difference is generally not visible; from 6 up the threads usually look visibly different.
- Is this the official Anchor to DMC chart?
- No. It finds the DMC thread nearest in on-screen color; it does not copy a conversion chart. We found no Anchor–DMC chart with a clean licence to use: the only MIT-licensed one is copied from an unlicensed chart. According to independent chart makers, DMC publishes no color values for its floss, and we found none from Anchor's maker, so every chart is someone's measurement or estimate. Two independent open Anchor lists differ by a median ΔE of 6.5, and only 54 of 442 Anchor threads agree within ΔE 3; for DMC the figure is 64 of the 482 threads both DMC lists have (median ΔE 6.9).
- Why does my shop chart give a different DMC number?
- Conversion charts come from different sources and do not always agree: the MIT-licensed DMC–Anchor table we found (and do not use, because it is copied from an unlicensed chart) gives the same DMC number as a North American retailer’s Anchor-to-DMC chart for 194 of 306 shared threads (about 63%). When a chart and this tool differ, compare the two skeins side by side in daylight.
- Which Anchor threads are included?
- 442 colors of Anchor stranded cotton, from an open list (go-cross-stitch, MIT). If a number is missing, it is not in that list.
Anchor color data: go-cross-stitch by lindsaylandry, Copyright (c) 2022 lindsaylandry, MIT License. «Stable in both lists» compares it with the independent Anchor list of KDE KXStitch; only that yes/no is used, not its colors.
Anchor is a trademark of its owner. This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by that owner. All colors are on-screen approximations; check a physical shade card before buying thread.
Color data: craft-color-codes by MakeBead, licensed under CC BY 4.0. «Stable in both lists» compares it with the independent png2dmc list; only that yes/no is used, not its colors. Changes: we add that flag, compute nearest-color matches and substitutes and, on the diamond painting chart, show a subset of the codes; the colors are unchanged.
DMC is a trademark of DMC. This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by DMC. All colors are on-screen approximations; check a physical DMC color card before buying thread.