Floss calculator: how many skeins

Enter how many stitches one color covers, the fabric count and the strands in the needle — you get meters of thread and skeins to buy. The estimate deliberately errs high: a skein from another dye lot costs more than a spare one.

Floss calculator

Stitches in one color

Fabric count

Strands in the needle

Skeins are bought per color, so we count one color. The app counts the stitches of every color from the chart legend automatically.Cross stitch is usually worked with two strands; a skein splits into six.

Thread, with reserve

28 m

One skein covers about 1,712 stitches

Skeins to buy

1 skein

This is an estimate with a reserve, not an exact figure: usage differs by up to one and a half times between two stitchers on the same chart.

How we calculate

One cross on fabric of count N is two diagonals on the front and a pass on the back — about (2√2 + 2) ÷ N inches of thread for a single strand. We multiply by the strands and by a 1.6 reserve that covers anchoring, carries between areas and unpicked mistakes.

A skein of floss is 8 meters of six-stranded thread. At 14 ct with two strands it covers about 1700 stitches. The stitchers' rule of thumb is a skein per one and a half to two thousand stitches — our math deliberately stays at its careful edge.

Erring high is intentional: a spare skein costs pennies, while running out mid-piece means buying from another dye lot — and the shade difference shows on the finished piece forever. That is why skeins only round up: nobody sells half a skein.

Common questions

How many stitches does one skein cover

At 14 ct with two strands — about 1700 full crosses. On finer fabric — 16 or 18 ct — the stitch is smaller and a skein lasts longer; on coarser fabric it is the other way around.

Why is this an estimate and not an exact figure

Usage depends on tension, working length and carries on the back — that is habit, not math, and it differs between any two stitchers. So the honest number comes with a reserve, not with meter precision.

What are strands

A skein of floss is made of six thin strands. For a cross you usually separate two; half stitch and backstitch take one or two. More strands mean denser coverage and higher usage.

Carry on in the app

Open your chart in the app — the stitches of every color are counted from the legend automatically, and the usage turns into a shopping list.

Open your chart

Nearby tool: Fabric calculator — finished size and the piece to cut, by fabric count.

Checked by the Easy Stitch App team, updated Aug 15, 2026. The formulas match the app: this page and the shopping screen work it out the same way.