Floss Calculator

How to make it

1. Add your colorsType a floss number and the stitch count for each color from your pattern key, or load the counts from a pattern saved in My patterns.
2. Set the stitchingChoose fabric count, strands in the needle, and a small, normal or generous allowance for thread lost to starts, ends and travel.
3. Read the skeinsEach row shows whole skeins to buy with the unrounded figure in brackets, and the total sits below with stitches per skein.

How the estimate is worked out

A full cross uses two diagonal passes on the front of the fabric, each the length of a square's diagonal, plus roughly two sides of a square traveling on the back. On 14-count a square is 1.81 mm wide, so one cross needs about 8.8 mm of a single strand. That figure is multiplied by the number of strands in your needle and then by an allowance for everything that is not a stitch: the tail you weave in, the bit left in the needle eye, jumps between areas and the occasional knot you cut out.

A standard six-strand skein of the common cotton floss holds 8 meters, so it contains 48 meters of single strand. Dividing gives stitches per skein, and dividing your stitch count by that gives skeins. Every color is rounded up to a whole skein, with a minimum of one.

The model is deliberately simple and transparent so you can sanity-check it. It does not try to guess your personal style, which is what the allowance setting is for, and it ignores the tiny differences between brands of six-strand cotton.

How many stitches does one skein of floss make?

These figures come straight from the calculator's formula with the Normal allowance. Use them for quick mental math when looking at a pattern key in a shop.

Choosing the allowance

Small (x1.3) suits stitchers who work in long rows of one color, park threads neatly and rarely restart. Normal (x1.7) is the default and fits most patterns. Generous (x2.2) is for confetti-heavy charts full of single stitches, for travel across the back between scattered areas, and for anyone who would rather have floss left over than make a second trip to the shop.

On 14-count with two strands, the three settings give about 2,107, 1,611 and 1,245 stitches per skein. That spread is the honest size of the uncertainty: no calculator knows how you stitch.

A worked example

The calculator opens with three rows: 2,500 stitches of 310, 1,200 of 321 and 600 of an unnamed color, on 14-count with two strands. The 310 row shows 2 skeins with 1.55 in brackets; the other two need less than one skein each, so each rounds up to 1. Total: 4 skeins.

The bracketed figure helps with stash decisions. A color at 1.05 skeins technically needs two, but if you already own a nearly full skein and stitch tidily, you may decide to risk it. A color at 1.8 should get two new skeins, ideally from the same dye lot.

Totals are only as good as the stitch counts you feed in, so copy them from the pattern key rather than estimating by eye. A chart that lists 1,240 stitches of a color needs one skein on 14-count with two strands; one that lists 1,700 needs two.

What it does not count

Rows take full cross stitches only. Backstitch, French knots, half and quarter stitches use far less thread per stitch; if a pattern lists them, a small extra skein of the outline color usually covers it. Blended needles, two colors threaded together, use one strand of each. Since the strand setting applies to the whole list, run blended stitches as a separate pass with one strand selected and add the result to each color.

Specialty threads such as metallics or pearl cotton come in different lengths, so treat results for them as rough.

Getting stitch counts without counting

Patterns from the cross stitch pattern maker and the pattern designer already include stitch counts and skein estimates in the PDF key, using this same formula and your chosen fabric and strands. Saved designs can be pulled in with Load from My patterns, which fills a row for every color. To look up a number before buying, the DMC color chart lists names and approximate shades, and the fabric size calculator shows how much aida to buy alongside.

Buying floss sensibly

Buy all the skeins of a large background color at once. Dye lots can differ slightly, and a band of a slightly different shade in the middle of a sky is hard to hide. For colors used only for a few dozen stitches, check your stash first, since a part-used skein often covers them.

Floss is cheap per skein but adds up across a thirty-color portrait. Reducing the color count in the pattern maker by merging near-identical shades is often a better saving than trimming the allowance here.