Shopping
How many floss skeins do you need?
Add the numbers in the legend. That sum is how many stitches you'll make. Then ask how many skeins. Pixelate Tools's shopping list prints a rough skein guess next to each color: about 1800 stitches per skein when you stitch with two strands on 14-count fabric. It's a planning number, not a lab measurement.
Open the cross-stitch page, finish the sliders, then Copy shopping list. You'll see lines like A 310 Black #000000 ×640 ~1 skein. The ×640 is the stitch count. The ~1 skein is ceil(640÷1800). A color at ×2200 shows ~2 skeins. Copy after the last edit. Painting cells or changing Colors rebuilds the counts.
Why the guess exists
Floss length on a skein varies by brand and dye lot. Strand count changes burn rate. 11-count fabric eats more thread per stitch than 18-count. So the tool doesn't pretend to know your leftover drawer. It gives a ceiling you can shop against, then you adjust.
Worked example: a 40×50 chart with 12 colors might put 900 stitches in background, 400 in skin, 200 in hair, and smaller piles elsewhere. Background at 900 is still one skein under the 1800 rule. Hair at 200 is one skein too, because you can't buy 0.1 of a skein at most shops. Accent colors with ×20 still print ~1 skein. That's intentional waste on paper and normal in a real cart.
Another example: a logo that's mostly navy (×1600) with a red accent (×90) needs two skeins of navy under the rule if you round up from 1600, and one skein of red. If you already own navy scraps that cover 400 stitches, buy one navy skein instead. The list can't see your drawer; you can.
How to tighten the buy list
If a color is ×8, paint those cells to a neighbor before you shop. Eight stitches aren't worth a dedicated skein unless that color is the whole point of the piece. Use Replace all to merge a noisy crumb color into its neighbor in one click. If background is ×1800 on a portrait, crop the photo so the wall shrinks. Fabric inches are a different math problem: cross-stitch fabric size.
Two strands is the default assumption because that's how many people stitch on 14-count Aida. If you use one strand on 18-count, your skein goes farther; you can halve the guess in your head. If you use three strands for a bold outline, buy extra for that color only.
Park thread for parking method or long travels burns more than a tidy row-by-row stitcher. If you park, add a half skein mentally to the biggest colors. If you stitch clean rows and end tails short, the 1800 rule may feel generous. Start generous the first time; tighten after you measure what you actually used.
Same idea, other crafts
Beads count pegs, not skeins. Drills count bags. Those lists live on the fuse bead and diamond painting pages. Letter tracking is identical: how to read a symbol chart.
Setup photos and dithering warnings are in photo to cross-stitch. Download PDF puts the shopping list on page one so you can take paper to the store without opening your phone in the aisle.
After you buy, write the real skein count you used on the printed legend. Next chart, you'll know whether 1800 was high or low for your hands. That note beats any website formula.
If you share a pattern, say the skein line is a guess. People stitch differently. The stitch counts are the hard fact; the skein column is courtesy math.
When the 1800 rule breaks down
Heavy metallics, full-coverage 11-count, or three-strand bold work burn faster. Treat ~1 and ~2 as minimum bags, not exact science. Your first finished piece teaches your personal rate better than any article.
Thread shopping checklist
Shopping list copied after last edit. Top three colors by × count checked against stash. Tiny × counts merged or bought as smallest pack. Fabric inches from fabric size on the same printout as stitch counts.
Variegated floss breaks the simple × count model. If you substitute one skein that changes every inch, treat the listed color as solid planning only and buy an extra skein when in doubt. Metallics snag; add margin there too.
When a color shows ~2 skeins, you're allowed to buy two and stop guessing. Splitting a large background across partial skeins from your stash is smart; splitting across three mismatched blues is visible in the finished piece.
Questions
Is 1800 stitches per skein exact?
No. It's a planning guess for 2 strands on 14-count. One strand uses less. Three strands or 11-count uses more.
What if a color is only 40 stitches?
Buy the smallest pack you can. Leftover is cheaper than a second trip for one eye highlight.
Do empty cells need floss?
No. Empty cells are skipped. Only legend counts use thread.
Why ~1 skein for only 40 stitches?
Shops sell whole skeins. The list rounds up so you don't assume fractional bags exist.
Does backstitch change the math?
Backstitch is extra thread not in filled-cell counts. Add margin mentally for outlines you draw by hand.
Keep going
Updated 30 September 2026