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The pattern says 2,400 stitches of DMC 310 and nothing about skeins. You don’t want to run out halfway and hunt for the same dye lot, or buy six of a color you’ll never finish.
One 8 m skein of six-strand floss covers about 1,650 full cross stitches on 14-count Aida with 2 strands. The chart below gives the number for every common fabric, and the free cross stitch calculator works out every color of your pattern.
Stitches per skein · 14-count · 2 strands
≈ 1,650
An estimate, with 15% for tails and travel. 16-count: about 1,890. 18-count: about 2,120. Work out your whole pattern.
A standard skein of DMC (and Anchor, Cosmo or Madeira) six-strand cotton is 8 m long, about 8.7 yards. You separate it into single strands and stitch with two on most Aida, so one skein is really 24 m of two-strand thread. How many crosses that makes depends on how big each square is and how many strands you use:
| Fabric | 1 strand | 2 strands | 3 strands |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11-count Aida | 2,590 | 1,300 | 860 |
| 14-count Aida | 3,300 | 1,650 | 1,100 |
| 16-count Aida | 3,770 | 1,890 | 1,260 |
| 18-count Aida | 4,240 | 2,120 | 1,410 |
| 22-count Aida (Hardanger) | 5,190 | 2,590 | 1,730 |
| 25-count evenweave, over two | 2,950 | 1,470 | 980 |
| 28-count linen/evenweave, over two | 3,300 | 1,650 | 1,100 |
| 32-count linen, over two | 3,770 | 1,890 | 1,260 |
Estimates with a 15% allowance for tails, travel on the back and mistakes, rounded to the nearest 10. Bold = 2 strands, the most common choice (many stitchers use 1 on 22-count and on 32-count linen). StitchThis PDF legends print skeins per color from figures within about 1% of these.
Divide the number of stitches of that color by the stitches per skein, then round up. For 2,400 stitches of DMC 310 on 14-count with 2 strands: 2,400 ÷ 1,650 = 1.45, so buy 2 skeins. Most charts print the stitch count for each color in the key; if yours doesn’t, count it in a PDF pattern tracker or use the calculator.
| Stitches of that color | 14-count | 16-count | 18-count |
|---|---|---|---|
| A small motif (one color covers 500 stitches) | 1 (0.3) | 1 (0.3) | 1 (0.2) |
| A bookmark or ornament color (1,000 stitches) | 1 (0.6) | 1 (0.5) | 1 (0.5) |
| A main color in an 8 × 10 in piece (5,000 stitches) | 4 (3) | 3 (2.7) | 3 (2.4) |
| A big background color (15,000 stitches) | 10 (9.1) | 8 (8) | 8 (7.1) |
Whole skeins to buy, with the exact fraction in brackets. Buy one extra of any color you can’t easily match later.
Most stitchers own a few hundred skeins and still buy a color they already have. The free floss stash tracker keeps your whole stash in one list you can check from your phone in the shop, and you don’t have to type it in one skein at a time:
Already keep a list? Upload it as a CSV file. Brand, number and how many you own come across in one go, and you check the list before anything is saved.
Lay out your skeins with the labels showing and take a picture, up to 5 photos at a time. StitchThis reads the number on each label and counts duplicates. Your first photo import is free; Maker makes it unlimited.
Search a number to see if you own it and how many. Note where each color lives (“drawer 2B”) so you can find it, too.
When you make a pattern from a photo, StitchThis leans toward the colors already in your stash, so there’s less to buy.
DMC, Anchor, Cosmo, Madeira and more brands are built in. Prefer paper? Print the DMC floss inventory checklist and tick what you own.
Three strands use half as much again as two: about 1,100 stitches per skein on 14-count instead of 1,650. One strand doubles it.
Bigger squares take more thread. 11-count gets about 1,300 stitches per skein; 18-count about 2,120. See Aida 14 vs 16 vs 18.
28-count linen stitched over two makes 14 stitches per inch, so it uses about what 14-count Aida does: around 1,650 stitches per skein.
Long jumps across the back, long tails and lots of restarts all eat thread. The chart allows 15%; a confetti-heavy pattern can use more.
Weeks Dye Works and Gentle Art skeins are 5 yards, a bit over half a DMC skein. Converting? See WDW to DMC and Gentle Art to DMC.
A half stitch uses about half a cross. Backstitch goes by length, so a few long outlines barely dent a skein.
When you make a pattern from your photo with StitchThis, the PDF’s color key lists every color with its stitch count and the skeins to buy for your fabric, from figures within about 1% of this chart. Add your stash to the floss tracker first and the pattern leans toward colors you already own.
Keeping track on paper? The printable DMC floss inventory checklist has every DMC color with a box for how many you own.
About 1,650 full cross stitches on 14-count Aida with 2 strands, 1,890 on 16-count and 2,120 on 18-count. Published figures range from about 1,500 to 1,800 on 14-count, depending on how much thread travels across the back.
8 m (about 8.7 yards) of six strands twisted together. Separated, that’s 48 m of single strand, or 24 m of two-strand thread.
About 2,120 with 2 strands. Many stitchers use 1 or 2 strands on 18-count; with 1 strand it’s roughly double.
For a color you need a lot of, or one that’s hard to match later, yes. Dye lots can differ slightly, and running out near the end of a big background is the classic way to end up with a visible line.
Use a floss stash tracker. In StitchThis you can import the spreadsheet you already keep as a CSV, or photograph your skeins and let it read the numbers off the labels, then search any color before you buy. Open the floss tracker.
Enter each color’s stitch count in the free cross stitch calculator. It gives skeins per color and the total to buy, for your fabric, strands and waste allowance.
Designing, previewing and saving patterns is free with a StitchThis account, and your first PDF is free. After that a PDF is $5.99 (or 5 for $20), or Maker ($5.99/month) for unlimited PDFs.
