I don't have a patterning making prog but use image editing software.
It doesn't matter if the image is not absolutely sharply focussed - I sharpen a little and adjust the contrast and then posterise which flattens out the colours - this was 100% posterisation at a depth of 8 pixels.
The next stage is to pixelise the pic.
This one is in blocks of 8 pixels - when I want to create the embroidery I'll printout at A4 (regardless of the size of the canvas) so that I can mark the squares with a fine point pen as a colour guide.
