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How Much Embroidery Floss Should You Use?

May 28, 2024 by Sarah White

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

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Bookmark Cross Stitch Patterns

It seems like there’s no end to the available options when it comes to cross stitch bookmarks, which is a good thing because they’re perennially popular to stitch as well. This time I thought I’d share some colorful cross stitch bookmarks to get you ready for the new school year or to make meeting your reading goals a little more fun. 

I love these retro floral designs from The Stitch Patterns. This set of four patterns is rated as very easy, and each bookmark measures 2.5 by 6 inches (or 6.35 by 15.25 cm) on 14 count fabric. 

These cute ones that look like mosaic tile would also be fun to stitch. This set includes five designs from EmbroSTyle Designs, and they call them folk art but they mostly look like old mosaics to me. Either way, the bookmarks are 25 by 101 stitches, and to stitch the full set uses 12 colors. 

If you’re looking for more of a challenge, you can stitch up a work of art with this set of 16 bookmarks designed to look like famous paintings. Stitch some sunflowers or a great wave or a starry night. Most of these are between 14 and 20 colors (the great wave is only 8) and the bookmarks are totally covered with stitching at a count of 35 by 100 stitches. Grab this set from Sunset and Sea Design.

Or how about some bookmarks inspired by books (or by movies inspired by books)? This set of Lord of the Rings bookmarks includes four landmarks from the books/movies. Each one is 35 by 115 stitches and uses between 8 and 17 colors. You can find them at byCountryMagicStitch.

These don’t quite all fit the description of being colorful bookmarks to cross stitch, but a few of them do, and speaking of book-themed bookmarks I had to share this set from Mama Geek inspired by Heartstopper. There are seven designs in all that should be quite familiar to readers (or viewers of the series). 

25 Christmas Bookmark Cross-stitch Patterns [Cross-Stitch]

25 Floral Bookmark Cross Stitch Patterns

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