Cotton Bureau Thread Colors Palette for Canva Affinity
As part of my quest to get comfortable in Canva Affinity, I’ve been experimenting with some on-demand embroidery designs on Cotton Bureau. For embroidery, you are limited to a palette of 15 specific thread colors. When you create the product, Cotton Bureau tries to match the colors in your design to the available thread colors… which provides some unexpected results. Thankfully, Canva provides hex codes to approximate the thread colors.
To speed up my production, I made an Affinity Color Palette and figured I’d share. If you want to import the current Cotton Bureau thread palette into Affinity, here it is: 2026 Cotton Bureau Thread Colors.clr (ZIP archive).
Hopefully, it will save you a couple of minutes.
I’ve got one simple embroidered beanie on Cotton Bureau right now, my Dum Spiro Spero design, but I’ve got more embroidery designs in the works.
Bob Wertz is the Director of Research Training at the University of South Carolina, a Ph.D. student and typeface designer living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
Day 2 of college orientation for my middle child. I’ve never been asked to scan more QR codes in my life.
I just backed Myke Hurley and Jason Snell’s new Apple history podcast Kickstarter. They’ve already more than doubled their funding goal in the first day and passed their first two stretch goals. I’m glad so many people are willing to support independent creators and media.
My Lorem Ipsum Story
Rabbit Hole released a delightful video detailing the history of Lorem Ipsum, the meaningless faux Latin placeholder text derived from Cicero and used throughout graphic design. Definitely worth a watch.1
This video reminded me of my own funny little Lorem Ipsum story…
A long time ago, I worked at a large corporation as an in house design manager. One of our internal subsidiaries was struggling with profitability and brought a very senior, respected executive out of retirement to get the company back on track.
This executive asked that we meet with him to go over the direct mail marketing materials that our team had developed. The mailers were in the early stages, and the body copy was all placeholder copy — Lorem Ipsum. Our account manager and I walked through the current status and explained the design system. After we were done, the executive looked puzzled.
“We aren’t targeting hispanic markets. Why is this in Spanish?”
I paused, not wanting to embarrass him, but completely unsure how to respond. Our account manager took over with a simple “We’ll take care of it,” and the conversation moved on to next steps. I always appreciated her quick thinking.
Bob Wertz is the Director of Research Training at the University of South Carolina, a Ph.D. student and typeface designer living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
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Thanks for the link, Hadley. ↩︎
Just saw some placeholder text slip through into a final shipping app. Terms and conditions were literally “Lots of Rules.”
In Rock Hill, South Carolina for a lacrosse tournament and had dinner at BearWalrus. Weird name. Outstanding food. Highly recommend.
Lacrosse tournament for Ryan in Rock Hill this weekend. Some great saves today.
Dum Spiro Spero
I’m proud of my state this week. The South Carolina Senate defeated a reckless redistricting effort, and South Carolina voters have come out in droves for early voting. I wanted to make a shirt on Cotton Bureau to commemorate the hope I’ve felt in the state this week.
Dum Spiro Spero is the South Carolina state motto — “While I breathe, I hope.”1 It’s a beautiful statement of persistence and determination. Yes, the shirt is in Latin, and yes, that means you’ll have to explain it to people.2 I recommend ordering a nice indigo blue.
If t-shirts aren’t your speed, there will also be an embroidered beanie soon, but the artwork isn’t ready quite yet.
Bob Wertz is a Ph.D. student, typeface designer, and native South Carolinian. He’s been blogging since 2008.
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And much better than our unofficial motto. ↩︎
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Dum Spiro Spero is typeset in SbB Certiphica Bold, my faux blackletter type design. ↩︎
There was a random boom that occurred in Columbia, SC a little while ago. Earthquake? Sonic boom? Not sure, but personally, I’m thrilled that on both Bluesky and Threads, there were enough local people for me to know I didn’t hallucinate it. (I officially don’t miss Twitter for local content.)
I’m thinking about buying a Fujifilm X half. Anyone have one? Do you like it?
Former SC Governor David Beasley on redistricting in SC:
What is being proposed in our state is not reapportionment done in good faith. It is designed to game the system. To engineer an outcome that serves those in power rather than the citizens who put them there. That distinction matters enormously. The question is simple: are these lines being drawn to serve the people, or to entrench the powerful? The answer, in this case, is not hard to see.
Busy weekend so far for Team Wertz. Jill’s graduation + Ryan’s confirmation.
Beware the clever strategy call. Obviously, McLaren starting on the intermediate tires was the wrong call.
Got Ryan to try sushi for the first time tonight. Surprise: he likes it.
Mandolorian and Grogu was fun. I enjoyed it. 🍿
I’m looking for an email service for one of my domain names. New address… Not trying to import or transfer anything. Just a new account. Who has a provider they like that isn’t named Google?
If SC redistricts, the timing would be perfect for Cobert to register to run for Congress. He’d do well in some of these newly more competitive districts.
It looks like the button on the SC Legislature website to send a message to your representative isn’t visible on mobile. So if you want to send your SC Senator an email, use a desktop computer.
Our school district has a tradition where graduating seniors go back to their elementary school and walk through the halls. The kids make signs and cheer for them. Jill got to go through CES today. Such an incredible experience for the seniors and the elementary age kiddos.
