How Long Does Cross Stitch Take? Time Your Own Pace

Search for how long cross stitch takes and you'll find confident stitches-per-hour figures. We don't publish one. We haven't found a primary source that measures it, and a single average couldn't cover both a solid block of one color and a scatter of twelve colors, let alone two different stitchers.

What does hold up is your own figure, measured on your own chart. It takes twenty minutes and turns every other question into arithmetic.

The arithmetic, for common chart sizes

These three rates are examples to show the calculation, not claims about how fast people stitch.

The stitches column assumes every square is stitched. Work grows with area, not width: going from 100 × 100 to 150 × 150 adds half to each side and more than doubles the hours.

To turn hours into a calendar, divide by the hours you really stitch in a week. As arithmetic, 75 hours at 5 hours a week is 15 weeks.

How to time yourself properly

A careless timing gives a flattering number. This is how to get one you can plan with.

1. Use the real chart, or one very like it. A photo chart with many colors isn't timed by stitching a motif in one color.
2. Pick a middle-difficulty area. Not the plain background, not the busiest patch of fur. DMC notes charts are broken up with larger grid lines to make blocks of stitches easier to count, so one of those blocks is a natural test area.
3. Start the timer before you thread the needle, and include every color change in the block. Those are part of the real work.
4. Stitch the way you'll stitch the project. The Cross Stitch Guild describes two ways to work a cross: each complete stitch in turn, or a line of half stitches completed on the return journey. If you're not sure which is faster for you, time a block each way.
5. Convert to stitches per hour: 6,000 ÷ minutes for the block. 20 minutes gives 300; 25 gives 240; 40 gives 150.
6. Round down. You were concentrating because a timer was running.

Better: time two blocks and weight them

Most photo charts have easy areas and hard ones. Time one of each, then weight them by how much of the chart each covers.

As arithmetic: a solid block takes 12 minutes and a confetti block takes 30. If roughly 60% of the chart looks like the first and 40% like the second, an average block takes 0.6 × 12 + 0.4 × 30 = 19.2 minutes, which is about 310 stitches an hour. Timing only the solid block would have said 500 an hour, and the project would take about 60% longer than that estimate.

Once you have a minutes-per-block figure — a single block, or the weighted average — this calculator does the rest of the arithmetic:

What the timed block doesn't measure

Your block measures stitching. A project has more in it.

• Counting and checking. Moving between areas means counting from a landmark, and a miscount means unpicking. How to read a cross stitch pattern covers the habits that keep that down.
• Starting and finishing threads, more often on charts with many colors. DMC advises avoiding long stretches of thread at the back and starting fresh in distant areas of the same color, so separate patches of one color each need their own start and finish.
• Page changes. Big charts are split across pages, and lining up where one page meets the next takes a moment every time.
• Extras you add by hand, like backstitch whiskers or a name. Our charts are full cross stitches only, so any backstitch or lettering is on top of the stitch count.
• Finishing. Washing, drying, pressing and framing or mounting come after the last stitch.

None of these has a reliable percentage. The practical fix is the next section.

Re-time on the real piece

Estimate before you start, then check it once you're underway.

1. Keep a simple log: date, minutes stitched, and roughly how many stitches you completed. Counting finished 10 × 10 blocks makes the stitch count easy.
2. After a few sessions, divide total stitches by total hours. That's your real rate on this chart, with the counting, threading and unpicking included.
3. Recalculate the finish date from the stitches left. If the date doesn't work, you've found out while there's still time to change the plan.

Counting the stitches in a chart

Stitches = width × height, minus any squares left as bare fabric. That last part matters on photo charts, which often leave the background unstitched: a 100 × 100 chart with a third of it bare is closer to 6,700 stitches than 10,000.

When you make a chart in our generator, the preview shows the total stitches, counting only the squares that are stitched. Cross stitch stitch count goes further into counting stitches on any chart, including ones without a total printed on them. For very large pieces where every square is stitched, full coverage cross stitch covers planning the months ahead.

When the answer is "too long"

If the arithmetic says more hours than you have, change the chart rather than hoping to stitch faster.

• Crop tighter. The subject keeps its stitches; the background loses them.
• Reduce the width. Stitches fall with area, so a chart 20% narrower (with height following) has about a third fewer stitches.
• Leave the background as bare fabric.
• Use fewer colors, which means fewer thread changes and less confetti.

A finer fabric count doesn't save time: it makes the same stitches smaller.

For deadlines, quick cross stitch gifts works out what fits in a weekend, and how long a pet portrait takes applies this method to the most common big gift.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a cross stitch project take?

Divide the chart's stitches by your stitches per hour. As arithmetic, a 100 by 100 chart is 10,000 stitches: about 67 hours at 150 stitches an hour, or 33 at 300. There's no sourced average pace to rely on, so time yourself on a 10 by 10 block and use that figure.

How many cross stitches can you do in an hour?

It varies a lot between stitchers and between charts, so measure it. Stitch one 10 by 10 block, 100 stitches, with a timer running, including threading and color changes. If it takes 20 minutes, your rate is 300 an hour; if 40 minutes, 150 an hour.

Why does my cross stitch take longer than I estimated?

Usually because the block you timed was easier than the chart. Areas with many colors and scattered single stitches run slower than solid areas. Estimates also leave out counting, unpicking, starting and finishing threads, and the washing and finishing at the end. Time a harder block and re-estimate after a few sessions.

Does fabric count change how long cross stitch takes?

It doesn't change the number of stitches, which is set by the chart. A 100 by 100 chart is 10,000 stitches on any count. Finer fabric has smaller holes, and some stitchers find it slower or harder on the eyes, so time your block on the fabric you'll actually use.

Is it faster to stitch in rows or one cross at a time?

That depends on you and the chart, so time both. The Cross Stitch Guild describes both ways: complete crosses one at a time, or a line of half stitches finished on the return journey. Stitch a 10 by 10 block each way on the same area and keep whichever is faster and neater.

Sources

• The Cross Stitch Guild — Stitch basics (a complete stitch at a time, or half stitches in a line completed on the return journey)
• The Cross Stitch Guild — Cross stitch FAQs (single and two-journey methods)
• DMC — How to read a cross stitch chart (larger grid lines for counting blocks of stitches)
• DMC — How to begin cross stitch (avoid long stretches of thread at the back; start fresh in distant areas)