Perler Bead Color Codes: The Complete Reference (P01–P60)

Why Codes Matter More Than Names

"Light Blue" means three different things depending on the brand in your hand. Perler's P09 Light Blue is a pale sky tone (#87CEEB) while a bag of "light blue" from another maker can be nearly cyan. When you follow a pattern that lists names only, you buy the wrong bag and the finished project has a color clash you cannot unsee.

Codes plus hex values fix this. If a pattern says P09, you buy P09. If you are substituting another brand, you compare hex values, not names.

Perler Midi: The Full P01–P60 Chart

Our pattern generator uses this exact 60-color working palette — the colors that actually appear in retail bags and trays, not the full specialty catalog that is impossible to keep stocked.

MARD: 221 Colors in Nine Series

MARD's system is the reverse of Perler's. Instead of one running number, colors are grouped by family and each series is numbered from 1. The palette we ship in the generator:

Series M is the one people miss. Those fifteen Morandi colors are what make a MARD project look professionally designed — muted sage, dusty rose, greige — and they have no Perler equivalent. If you convert a Perler pattern to MARD and skip the M series, every color in the result reads slightly too saturated.

Artkal: S-Prefix and the Mini Trap

Artkal's core midi palette is S01–S60 and overlaps Perler heavily by name but not always by value. Their 2.6mm mini beads reuse the same S-prefix numbering, so S07 Red exists in both midi and mini — check the bag's size marking, not just the code, when ordering online.

Common Cross-Brand Substitutions

These pairs share the same name and sit within a few percent on hex — safe swaps in practice:

Everything else, compare hex side by side and expect a visible shift. For gradient work a 2–3% hex difference is invisible in the finished piece; past 8% you will see a seam.

How to Use This With the Generator

The pattern generator reads the photo, then maps every pixel to the nearest bead in the palette you choose — Perler, Hama, Artkal, MARD or Nabbi. The nearest-color match uses a perception-weighted distance where green differences count most, because human eyes are most sensitive there, so the mapping looks right rather than merely being mathematically closest.

To see the whole palette bead by bead, the palette page renders every color as an actual bead dot. For the big picture of how brand palettes compare, the color chart guide walks through the differences in depth.

FAQ

Is P01 White the same as Hama 01 White?

Close enough to mix in one project, but not identical — Hama white runs a touch warmer. For large white fields such as backgrounds and snow, stay with one brand for the whole field.

Why does my P09 look different from a bag I bought last year?

Retailers cycle manufacturing batches and white/blue tones drift the most. If a project depends on an exact shade across multiple bags, buy all the bags at once and match the batch code printed on the package.

Do I need all 60 colors?

No. The twelve curated patterns on the patterns page use under 20 colors in total, and designs reuse them heavily. Build toward 60 only if you do photo conversions, where a wide palette reduces dithering artifacts.