Incoherent Scribblings

How Many Strands?

Since today is Wednesday, it is time for a new Stitching Blogger’s Question, and it is…

How many strands of floss to you prefer to stitch with? Why?

As for myself, I prefer two strands of floss as a general rule. Normally I work on 28 or 32 count Evenweave (or occasionally 14 count Aida) and I think two strands provides enough coverage. In addition to that, I recently started using the “loop” method to start my floss and that can’t be done if you need an odd number of threads.
I have experimented with how many strands of floss I stitch with though.

Last fall, for example, I tried using three strands on a baby sampler that I did for a friend. The fabric was 25 count and I initially thought that two strands wouldn’t give me enough coverage. Three strands did provide full coverage, but I didn’t really like the way it turned out. I felt that the thread was too bulky, it knotted up too easily, and overall I had a rough time stitching with it because I couldn’t get it to lie straight on the fabric. Since then I have used two strands on 25 count and, in my opinion, it looks fine. (See the baby sampler here!)

I also tried stitching with only one strand of floss when last summer I did a kit that came with 14 count Aida printed cloth that called for only using one strand of thread. I was a little skeptical of it at first, but the piece turned out really nice and has a very delicate look. (See “Delicate Dragonflies” here!)

I think that the only time now that I would use more than two strands would be on something big like 10 or 11 count Aida cloth, but I would probably use four strands instead of three so I could “loop” it.

However, I think each piece is unique and the fabric, a person’s stitching style, and the floss itself are always important factors that must be considered when choosing how many strands of floss to stitch with.