How long does a cross stitch take? Realistic numbers
Count the stitches, divide by your speed, and add a third for colour changes.
Stitches per hour
A beginner manages around 100 to 150 full cross stitches an hour. With practice most people settle between 200 and 300. Rows of one colour go fastest; areas with frequent colour changes go slowest, whatever your speed.
Estimating a chart
A 130 by 130 chart has 16,900 squares, but on a black-aida design the background is left bare, so the stitched count is usually between a third and a half of that: roughly 6,000 to 8,000 stitches. At 200 an hour that is 30 to 40 hours, or a month of evenings.
What slows a chart down
Confetti, more than anything: single scattered stitches that each need a thread started and ended. Fractional stitches and backstitch outlines add time too. Our charts have neither, and the confetti share is printed for each one, so the stitch count is close to the real work involved.
