Cross stitch floss calculator

Skeins of this color to buy: 2. The stitches and the extra come to 1.78 skeins at 1,100 stitches per skein, about 14.2 m of floss.

Your numbers

Stitches of this color

Full crosses in one color, from the pattern's key. Count a half stitch as half a cross.

Stitches per skein come from

A published figure is quick. Your own test length is closer to how you stitch.

Stitches per skein

Full crosses from one skein. For fourteen count with two strands one guide says about eleven hundred, a measured table about seventeen hundred. Use the lower figure if unsure.

Extra for starts, ends and mistakes

One guide suggests ten percent for dense simple areas, fifteen for ordinary projects and twenty or more for scattered stitches.

Examples

Advanced options

Length of one skein

Eight meters for the common six-strand cotton skeins. Check the band of other brands.

Result

Skeins to buy

Skeins needed before rounding up

1.78

Stitches per skein used

1,100

Stitches the bought skeins cover

2,200

Floss needed, whole thickness

14.2 m

Floss needed, whole thickness unit

How it works

How many skeins of floss do I need? Divide the stitches of a color by the stitches one skein makes, add something for starts, ends and mistakes, and round up. The division is easy; the figure is not. How many stitches per skein you get depends on the fabric count, the number of strands, how you start and end threads and how far you carry them. Published figures for the same fabric differ by more than half, and most thread calculators build one in without saying which. This cross stitch thread calculator shows the figure and lets you change it. Better still, measure your own: cut one length, stitch until it runs out, count the crosses, and the tool works out how much floss your cross stitch really uses. The skein length it assumes is the usual eight meters and can be changed for other brands.

Formula

skeins = stitches of the color × (1 + extra) ÷ stitches per skein, rounded up to whole skeins, never less than 1. From a test length: stitches per skein = lengths per skein × (6 ÷ strands) × stitches from one length, where lengths per skein = skein length ÷ cut length, rounded down. A skein of six-strand floss is 8 m (8.7 yd) long.

Worked example

The calculator opens with this example; the result above is computed from it.

Input	Value
Stitches of this color	1,700
Stitches per skein come from	A figure I choose
Stitches per skein	1,100
Extra for starts, ends and mistakes	15 %
Length of one skein	8 m
Skeins to buy	2
Skeins needed before rounding up	1.78
Stitches per skein used	1,100
Stitches the bought skeins cover	2,200
Floss needed, whole thickness	14.2 m

Common cases

Case	Starting values	Skeins to buy	Skeins needed before rounding up	Stitches per skein used	Stitches the bought skeins cover	Floss needed, whole thickness
One color of a small motif	Stitches of this color 300; Stitches per skein 1,100; Extra for starts, ends and mistakes 15 %; Length of one skein 8 m	1	0.31	1,100	1,100	2.5 m
Main color of a sampler	Stitches of this color 1,700; Stitches per skein 1,100; Extra for starts, ends and mistakes 15 %; Length of one skein 8 m	2	1.78	1,100	2,200	14.2 m
Background of a full coverage piece	Stitches of this color 12,000; Stitches per skein 1,400; Extra for starts, ends and mistakes 20 %; Length of one skein 8 m	11	10.29	1,400	15,400	82.3 m
Worked out from your own test length	Stitches of this color 1,700; Stitches from one length 20; Length you cut 18 in; Extra for starts, ends and mistakes 15 %; Length of one skein 8 m	2	1.92	1,020	2,040	15.3 m

Questions and answers

How many skeins of floss do I need?

For 1,700 stitches of one color at 1,100 stitches per skein, with 15 % extra, the need is 1.78 skeins before rounding up. Skeins to buy: 2.

How many stitches do you get from one skein of floss?

It depends on your fabric and your hands, so measure it. If one length of 18 in gives 20 full crosses, a skein of 8 m gives 1,020 stitches.

Assumptions and limits

The answer is only as good as the stitches-per-skein figure. It falls with coarser fabric, more strands, knots, short lengths and long carries across the back.
Sources opened for this page disagree. For fourteen count, one guide gives roughly a thousand and fifty to twelve hundred full crosses per skein with two strands; a measured table gives about sixteen hundred and fifty to eighteen hundred and fifty without stating the strands; a calculator states about sixteen hundred. None is shown here as fact.
The extra is applied once, to the stitches. Do not also lower the figure for waste, or the allowance is counted twice.
Buy all the skeins of a color at once if you can: dye lots vary. Backstitch, French knots and blended needles are not counted.

The result is an estimate for planning, not professional advice.

Sources

CrossStitchStyleArte: how to calculate the thread needed (stitches ÷ stitches per skein, three worked examples, 10 to 25 % extra; 8 m or 8.7 yd skein)retrieved 2026-10-13
Crewel Ghoul: how much embroidery floss do I need (test-length formula: 17 lengths of 18 in per skein × stitches × 6 ÷ strands)retrieved 2026-10-13
Lord Libidan: how many stitches can you get out of an 8 m skein (measured table by fabric count)retrieved 2026-10-13
CalcPro: cross stitch calculator (states about 1,600 stitches per skein with two strands)retrieved 2026-10-13

Last updated: 13 October 2026

Method in depth: Floss per skein: why the figures disagree

Cite this page: Stitch Count, “Cross stitch floss calculator”, https://stitch-count.pages.dev/floss-and-time/cross-stitch-floss-calculator/ (updated 13 October 2026).

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