Needlepoint Thread Types: Wool, Cotton, and Silk

What each one is like to stitch with, and how much of it you need for your canvas.

A shop wall can hold dozens of threads in a hundred colors. Once you have the color, two questions settle the choice: what is the thread made of, and how much of it do you need to cover your mesh?

Wool

Wool is the traditional needlepoint thread: the Royal School of Needlework says wool on canvas was traditionally used for seat covers and rugs. Needlepoint.Com, which has shops in Charleston and Raleigh, says wool tends to be more forgiving, while silk and metallics may need more even tension.

Use it for: first projects, and seat covers, rugs, and pillows.

Cotton

Cotton costs less than silk. In the shop catalogs we read for our cost guide, a 27-yard skein of DMC pearl cotton had a median price of $2.35. Pearl cotton is highly twisted and mercerized, and i of the needle in Bath, near Akron, says in its listings that the two together give it a high sheen.

Use it for: first projects too, and stitching on a budget. Needlepoint.Com's first skill level lists floss and pearl cotton beside wool.

Silk

Silk costs more than wool or cotton. KC Needlepoint in Kansas City calls silks one of the more expensive options, and by the lengths the shop listings give, silk costs about three times as much a yard as pearl cotton. As Needlepoint.Com says above, it may need more even tension than wool, and NeedlepointTeacher.com warns that silk is sensitive to water and sunlight.

Silk and wool are also sold blended, like the fifty-fifty silk and merino in the photograph above. Read the band on the skein to know what you are buying.

How much thread covers your canvas

This is the part to understand before you buy, and it is why the same thread appears in different quantities in different projects.

Many needlepoint threads are made of separable strands, so you adjust coverage by changing how many you stitch with. A finer canvas needs fewer strands, and a coarser canvas more. These starting points come from shops' own listings and charts:

• Persian wool (such as Colonial Persian). Rittenhouse Needlepoint in Philadelphia says in its listings to use all three of Colonial Persian's strands on 10-mesh, two on 13-mesh, and one on 18-mesh, and calls it comparable to "the now-discontinued Paternayan wool."
• Crewel wool (such as Appleton's). One or two strands on 18-mesh, in Rittenhouse's listings. On 13-mesh it takes more, so ask the shop or stitch a test patch.
• Tapestry wool. Appleton's is a single strand that does not separate, and Rittenhouse's listings say to use it as it comes on 13-mesh.
• Cotton floss (such as DMC). Seven or eight strands for 13-mesh and about four for 18-mesh, going by the thread chart Needlepoint.Com publishes. Floss comes as six strands, so for 13-mesh combine two lengths.
• Stranded silk. Varies by brand. The same chart gives four strands of Planet Earth's 6 Ply Silk on 18-mesh and six on 13-mesh, but four and eight strands of Bradley's eight-ply silk. Go by the maker's or the shop's chart for the thread you buy.

Treat those as a place to begin rather than a rule. NeedlepointTeacher.com names the wrong number of strands for the canvas as one cause of poor coverage, and the stitch matters too: some stitches leave canvas showing on purpose, as our background stitches guide explains. For a stitch meant to cover, stitch a small test patch in a corner and look at it. If canvas shows through, add a strand; if the stitches look crowded and bulky, drop one.

If you are not sure what mesh you are working on, our mesh count guide explains how to read the number and what it means for your project.

Metallics and specialty threads

Metallic threads add sparkle. Needlepoint.Com says that, like silk, they may need more even tension than wool. The skill levels on its site bring in threads "intended for metallic, sparkly, and fluffy effects" at the third of its four levels, after the foundation stitches.

How long to cut a metallic depends on the thread. Needlepoint.Com suggests 6 to 8 inches for metallics, to keep them from fraying. Some braided metallics can go longer: Painter's Thread's listings at Artful Stitches in Locust Grove, Virginia, say the braid does not fray easily in the needle and can be used in lengths of up to 24 inches. Go by the card or the listing for the thread you buy.

Which should a beginner buy?

Choose wool, if you have the choice. It is the thread Needlepoint.Com says tends to be more forgiving, and the mistakes in our how to start guide cover tension.

A kit can settle the question for you: pre-printed and all-in-one kits usually arrive with thread already matched to the canvas. See our guide to choosing a first kit for more on that.

With a hand-painted canvas, you choose the thread or have a shop choose it, and a shop counter, with the canvas in your hand, is the place to do it. Color reads differently in a photograph, and sheen and fiber are things you judge by eye and by touch.

When you would rather order online, our starter supplies guide has our picks for thread along with everything else.

Looking after thread

• Work in shorter lengths. Needlepoint.Com and NeedlepointTeacher.com both suggest about 18 inches. Each pass through the canvas wears the thread a little, NeedlepointTeacher.com explains, and it suggests shorter lengths still for silk and rayon.
• Keep it out of the sun. Sun can fade threads, NeedlepointTeacher.com says.
• Buy enough at once. Dye lots vary: Rittenhouse's listings say they "do have some variation." If a background needs a lot of one color, get it in one go.

FAQ

Can I use embroidery floss for needlepoint?

Yes. Six-strand cotton floss works on canvas too, and the thing to get right is the number of strands. Embroidery on fabric typically uses one or two strands at a time, the Embroiderers' Guild of America says, while the Needlepoint.Com chart above gives about four for 18-mesh and seven or eight for 13-mesh. Our needlepoint vs. embroidery guide covers the other differences between the two.

Can I mix thread types on one canvas?

Yes. Needlepoint.Com suggests placing different threads side by side, such as a silk flower next to a wool leaf, and testing a combination on a spare piece of canvas first. It adds that threads differ in elasticity and thickness.

How much thread do I need for a project?

It depends on canvas size, mesh count, and how much of the design is background. A shop can estimate it for you from the canvas itself, as part of kitting the canvas. If you buy it yourself, get all of the background color at once, in one dye lot.

Is wool or cotton better for a beginner?

We suggest wool, which Needlepoint.Com says tends to be more forgiving. Cotton works too: Needlepoint.Com's first skill level lists floss and pearl cotton beside wool.

Thread prices, and what Rittenhouse Needlepoint, i of the needle, and Artful Stitches say in their listings, come from the shop catalogs behind our cost guide, read on September 28, 2026; Rittenhouse's Colonial Persian listing was read again on September 29. Needlepoint.Com's thread chart and skill levels, and NeedlepointTeacher.com's page on canvas coverage, were read on September 29, 2026. Needlepoint.Com's posts of April 2022 and July 2025, NeedlepointTeacher.com's pages on blocking and on silk, KC Needlepoint's FAQ of March 2025, the Royal School of Needlework, and the Embroiderers' Guild of America were read in September 2026.