How much embroidery floss do I need? (stitches per skein)
Updated October 16, 2026 · 3 min read
Wondering how many cross stitches per skein — or how many skeins a project needs? One DMC skein is about 8 m of six-strand floss. On 14-count Aida with 2 strands you typically get about 1,500–2,000 full crosses per skein. Below is the hand method, then a link to the free interactive skein calculator.
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Count the stitches of each colour
Your pattern's legend often lists stitch counts per colour. If not, count roughly: number of 10×10 blocks that are mostly that colour × 100. PIXVIX shows exact stitch counts and skein estimates for every colour automatically.
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Check your fabric and strands
Bigger squares and more strands use more floss. Typical combinations: 11-count with 3 strands, 14-count with 2 strands, 16–18-count with 2 strands (or 1 for a finer look).
Lower counts = bigger stitches = more floss per stitch. - 3
Divide by stitches per skein
As a rough rule of thumb for full crosses: about 800–1,000 stitches per skein on 11-count with 3 strands, about 1,500–2,000 on 14-count with 2 strands, and about 2,000–2,500 on 18-count with 2 strands. Round up, then add one spare skein for large areas of a single colour.
What exactly is a skein?
A standard DMC stranded cotton skein is 8 m (about 8.7 yards) of floss made of six strands. Because you usually stitch with two strands, one skein really gives you three times that length of working thread.
A worked example
A 100 × 100 design on 14-count Aida has 10,000 stitches. Suppose the background colour covers 4,000 of them: 4,000 ÷ ~1,700 ≈ 2.4, so buy 3 skeins — plus a spare if the dye lot matters. A colour with only 300 stitches needs just one skein.
Backstitch and French knots
Backstitch uses far less floss than crosses: a skein goes a very long way for outlines, especially with one strand. French knots use a little more per knot than a cross stitch. For most patterns one skein per backstitch colour is plenty.
Buying tips
Buy all skeins of a big background colour at the same time so they come from the same dye lot. Keep leftover floss on labelled bobbins — the DMC number on the band is what you will need later. And check your stash against the full DMC colour chart before ordering.
Use the free cross stitch skein calculator
If you already know stitches per colour, skip the hand maths. The PixVix floss calculator (also called a skein calculator) takes stitch counts, fabric count, strands and brand, then returns metres and whole skeins to buy — including DMC, Anchor, Madeira and hand-dyed lengths.
Open the free skein calculator
Enter stitches per colour and get whole skeins to buy for DMC and other brands — no spreadsheet needed.
Floss / skein calculatorQuestions
- How many cross stitches per skein of DMC?
- About 1,500–2,000 full crosses on 14-count Aida with 2 strands from an 8 m skein. Expect fewer stitches on 11-count or with 3 strands, and more on 16–18-count.
- How many stitches does one skein of DMC make?
- Same rule of thumb: roughly 1,500–2,000 full cross stitches on 14-count with 2 strands, once you allow for starts and ends.
- Is there a free cross stitch skein calculator?
- Yes — PixVix’s free floss calculator at /en/tools/floss-calculator estimates metres and skeins per colour for 21 thread brands.
- Does the number of strands matter?
- Yes — it is the biggest factor. Three strands use about 50% more floss than two; one strand uses about half.
- Should I always buy an extra skein?
- For large background colours, yes. Dye lots can differ, and a mismatch in a big area is easy to see.