How much floss a smocking plate needs

Smocking uses less thread than most people expect, but running short mid row is frustrating. This guide shows how the estimate on every plate page is built so you can adjust it for your own tension.

Illustration of embroidery floss skeins in blush, blue, sage and navy with a needle

What goes into one row

The visible travel of the stitch between bites, measured on the chart.
A quarter inch of thread per bite for the part that goes into the pleat.
Four inches of tail at each end for starting and finishing.
15 percent waste on top.

Converting to skeins

A standard 6 strand skein is taken as 8 meters, or 315 inches. If you stitch with 3 strands, each strand of thread counts as one sixth of the skein, so a length of 3 strands uses half the skein length. The tool converts for you; always round up to whole skeins.

Strands used	Share of a skein per length
2	one third
3	one half
4	two thirds
6	all six strands

Example

A 41 pleat cable row is 41 bites. Its travel is about 10 inches, the bites add about 10 inches and the tails add 8, so roughly 28 inches of thread. With 3 strands and 15 percent waste this is a small fraction of one skein. The Plate Designer shows the exact number for your plate.

Tips

Buy one extra skein of the main color.
Cut lengths of 18 inches or less to keep the thread from fraying.
Buy all skeins of one color from the same dye lot.

See the Bishop Yoke Classic plate for a full worked table.

Adjusting for your own tension

The estimate assumes an even, moderate tension. Tight stitchers use a little less thread and loose stitchers a little more. Stitch one row, measure what you used, and compare it with the estimate on the plate page. If you are consistently above or below, scale the rest of the plate by the same amount.

Colors

Each plate lists floss per color, so you can buy exactly what the plate needs. Rows that share a color are added together before rounding up to whole skeins.

A full plate: Bishop Yoke Classic

The engine gives these amounts for Bishop Yoke Classic at 3 strands:

Color	Length (in)	Length (yd)	Skeins	Buy (skeins)
Blush	58.9	1.64	0.11	1
Powder blue	87.8	2.44	0.16	1

The last column is what you buy. The skein column shows the exact fraction before rounding up, which is useful for judging how much is left over after the plate.

Why the number changes with the stitch

A cable row stays on one line. A wave climbs and falls, so its thread travels farther between bites. A trellis has two passes. That is why two plates of the same width can need quite different amounts of a color, and why the estimate is worked from each stitch path rather than from the width alone.

Checking after the first row

Stitch one complete row with a measured length of thread.
Measure what is left when the row is done.
Compare the used length with the length shown on the plate page.
If you use more, scale the other rows by the same proportion.

Common floss mistakes

Using 6 strands where the plate assumes 3, which doubles the thread used.
Pulling very long lengths that tangle and fray before the row is done.
Mixing dye lots of the same color name.
Ignoring the tails, which are 4 inches at each end in the estimate.

Planning for several garments

If you plan a matching set, add the buy column for each plate and round up once at the end rather than for each plate. Two garments that share a main color often fit in one extra skein less than you would buy separately. Keep the leftover skeins together with the plate printouts so you can find them for repairs.