How Much Embroidery Floss Should You Use?

One of the most common questions I hear from people who are new to cross stitch and other kinds of embroidery is how many strands of embroidery floss should you use on a project?

I learned by using two strands, and some projects will tell you if they want more coverage such as can be produced by using more strands, but I tend to default to two strands.

Sometimes you will want more or less coverage, or depending on the kind of work you’re doing you might want more of fewer strands. Working subtle back stitch details, for example, you might choose to use fewer strands than you did on the main colorwork of the project. If you’re stitching a full-coverage project, you might want to use more strands to ensure none of the fabric shows through.

This is kind of just a long way of saying “it depends,” but if you want to get a little more specific, Crewel Ghoul has some advice on their website about how many strands to use when.

There’s even a quiz on the page you can take describing what kind of embroidery you are doing, how big the project is and how you’d like the stitches to look, which then advises how many strands you should use.

I told it I was doing a medium sized cross stitch project and wanted fluffy looking stitches, and it advised using two or three strands, so I guess my instinct is pretty good on that.

If you want to see one example of how different numbers of strands play in a project, check out my post on French knots, which has samples using different numbers of strands and different numbers of twists in the knot. It really does make a difference and you’ll probably find you have a preference that you’ll default to as well.

I’d love to know if you “always” use the same number of strands and how many you do.

[Photo: Crewel Ghoul]

How to Make French Knots

I was recently approached by Alyssa, the cross stitcher behind the Etsy shop Stitchonomy, to take a look at her cross stitch pattern subscription club, known as The Pattern Club.

I took a look around and there’s a lot of cute stuff and fun options you’ll want to check out, especially if you love themed patterns that are small, easy to stitch and fun to combine.

The Pattern Club combines cross stitching with a social network. When you open the site you’ll see a news feed and have the ability to share updates much like you would on Facebook. You can see who is online, have buddies and post your own updates and photos. The community aspect is a little sparse right now but that should only grow.

The stitch along hub is the place to find the most recent patterns and information on the current stitchalong. As of this writing the Book Lover’s stitchalong was happening, with little designs like Peter Rabbit, a skull for Hamlet and keys for Jane Eyre as well as authors including Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen.

Other pattern collections include European designs, Halloween, ocean life, an allotment garden and more. Alyssa tells me there’s a new theme every month that either she picks or members in the community suggest. You can stitch just the patterns you want or put them together to make a larger collage.

The Stitchanomini vault gives you access to all of the previous patterns, and new patterns are released daily through the stitchalong. You can download individual patterns (most of them are 19 by 19 stitches) as PDFs or Pattern Keeper files. The PDFs include a color and black and white chart as well as a floss list.

Another cool thing you can do is build your own pattern collages from all of the squares that have been released. The collage configurator allows you to add patterns of your choosing to a grid ranging from 2×2 patterns up to 4×4. You can scroll through all the current patterns or search by theme and size to make a project that suits your needs. (Above is an example I made kind of at random but you get the idea.)

If you want to check it out, you can grab a three-day free trial and see all the pattern options. Membership is $7.99 a month, or if you pay for a year at a time you’ll get two months free. In addition to the patterns in the club, members receive discounts on patterns and supplies purchased through the shop within the club. Annual members get access to three paid/retired stitchalongs and lifetime members receive all retired patterns.

If you check it out I’d love to hear what you think!

Have you read?