Blend Floss Planner

Cross-stitch thread planning

How much of each floss colour do my blends need?

List the blend areas you have already decided on, with the strands of each colour used per stitch. The planner adds up each colour across all recipes, applies your waste margin, subtracts the skeins you already own, and rounds up to whole skeins.

Open the planner

Blend recipes to shopping list

Set your thread and recipes

Updates as you type
The example uses DMC’s common 8 m skein. Use the length on your own labels.
Six-strand floss is common. Enter the number your thread has.
Example value only. Calibrate it by stitching a sample and measuring the thread used.
Covers starts, ends, tangles, and fragments. It is added before rounding.

Blend recipes

Strands per stitch is how many strands of each colour go into one stitch. A stitch can use up to 6 strands in total, for example 1 + 1 or 2 + 1.

Skeins you already have

Calculated in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or saved.

The math, explained

How the shopping list is calculated

For each recipe and colour, the planner computes stitches × strands per stitch × thread per stitch per strand to get single-strand length. It adds that length across every recipe that uses the same colour, multiplies by one plus the waste margin, and divides by the length of one skein’s strands (skein length × strands per skein). Stock is subtracted, and the remainder is rounded up to whole skeins.

Example with the default settings

120 stitches × 1 strand × 1.5 cm = 1.80 m of DMC 310 for “Sky blend”

80 stitches × 1 strand × 1.5 cm = 1.20 m of DMC 310 for “Green blend”

Merged DMC 310 is 3.00 m; with a 10% margin it is 3.30 m, which is 0.07 of a 48 m single-strand skein, so you buy 1.

Use it as an estimate

Calibrate before you buy everything

01

Measure one sample

Stitch a small block with your own fabric count and stitch style, then measure how much thread it used. Use that to set the length per stitch.

02

Keep recipes for your own designs

Enter the blend areas from your own pattern or your own notes. The tool does not read or store patterns.

03

Check the remainder

Compare the buy count with the exact skein figure. If a colour is just above a whole skein, consider a larger margin.

Common questions

Blend floss planner FAQs

Why merge colours before rounding?

If each recipe is rounded up on its own, you can buy extra skeins of the same colour. Merging first gives a single figure per colour. The results panel shows both numbers so you can see the difference.

Does it support full cross stitch only?

Yes. The per-stitch length you enter should describe full cross stitches. Backstitch, French knots, and other stitches need their own calibration and are not modelled.

Is the result a guarantee that I have enough thread?

No. It is an estimate built from the numbers you enter. Tension, carry-over between stitches, fragments, and how you start and finish all change real usage.

This is a materials estimate for your own recipes. It does not guarantee thread length, colour matching, or the number of skeins a manufacturer provides.