If you spend a lot of time doing embroidery, you know that economizing on embroidery floss is not a good idea.
Apart from embroidery, this floss can be used in several projects that include cross stitching, smocking, quilting, and needlepoint, among many others.
Because of this, the yarn has to be of high quality, with properties such as being loosely twisted and made of materials such as cotton, silk, polyester, linen, or rayon.
Therefore, as a beginner, selecting the best embroidery floss might challenging because there are many things to consider.
However, this article looks at 5 of the best yarns and gives you pointers towards what to look for when making purchases in the future.
Our Top 3 Recommendations – Embroidery Floss
“Following are the top three recommended products based on personal experience and customer feedback”
- Similane Embroidery Floss 50 Skeins Cross – (Great Quality and Value)
- LE PAON Embroidery Floss Rainbow Color – (Great For the Price)
- Paxcoo 124 Skeins Embroidery Floss – (Editors’ Choice)
Top 5 Best Embroidery Floss Reviews
1. Renba Embroidery Floss 100 Skeins
This rental high-quality embroidery floss is made purely from cotton, making it very soft and comfortable working. This makes it a perfect choice for making wearable items such as friendship bracelets because it will feel very smooth and comfortable as it makes contact with the skin.
Additionally, cotton is solid, and its tiny pores hold onto the brightly colored dyes, making it retain its original color for a long time.
Each thread contains 6 independent strands, which can be separated to adjust the thickness of the thread. This gives you the flexibility to work on different projects that require different thread widths. If you feel like you have removed a lot, the strands can be rejoined easily by holding them together while stroking them gently so that they can form a seamless bond.
Quantity-wise, it comes as a set of 100 skeins, each having its own unique color. This gives you a vast array of options to choose from, which will certainly be a plus for any embroidery project.
Each skein is 8 meters long, meaning that you get a total of 800 meters of thread. With all that length, you can work on multiple projects without having to worry about your floss running out for a long time.
Features at a glance
- It is made from 100% cotton.
- A multicolored set of 100 skeins.
- Each skein is 8 meters long.
- Perfect for embroidery and DIY projects.
- Suitable for use by all ages (from kids to grannies).
- It does not fade easily over time.
- Each thread has 6 individual strands.
- Removable strands make the thread width adjustable.
2. Premium Rainbow Color Embroidery Floss
This has 5 additional skeins as compared to the Renba set above. This means that you get a total of 105 rainbow-colored skeins, which are quite many and enough for multiple projects. Additionally, each skein is 8 meters long, giving you a total of 840 meters at your disposal.
Each floss contains 6 twisted strands, which can be easily undone to reduce the thread’s width. This gives you the flexibility to use the threads in different projects, whether it requires a thick or thin thread.
The set comes with 10 sturdy needles designed to penetrate fabric types, enabling you to work on different materials with ease. It also comes with a needle threader that makes it quite easy to feed the floss into the needle eye. This eliminates the strain that you would otherwise have if you had to do this manually.
The colored yarns, needles, and threaders come neatly packaged in an extreme PVC case that makes it very easy to transport them. You can carry the set along to your summer camp or continue enjoying this craft on the road.
Features at a glance
- It is made purely from cotton.
- It comes as a set of 105 skeins, each 8 meters long.
- Each thread is composed of 6 independent strands.
- Strands are easily removable to adjust the thread thickness.
- It comes with 10 sturdy needles and a needle threader to help you get started immediately after unboxing.
- Neatly packaged in a strong PVC case for easy transportation.
3. Caydo Embroidery Floss 50 Skeins Rainbow Color
This floss set is not as populated as the two above. It comes with 50 skeins, which are rainbow-colored to give you the full-color spectrum for embellishing your different projects. Each skein has an 8-meter long thread consisting of 6 strands that wound together all along this length.
The 6 strands make it possible to minimize the thread thickness because they can be split from each other easily. This process can also be undone by holding the strands together while stroking them for perfect alignment.
The yarns are made of polyester, which is more flexible and more durable than cotton because it does not decompose easily, even when exposed to water. This gives them a longer shelf life and a longer service life, even with regular washing.
However, even though it is made from polyester, it is a smooth and soft polyester that is suitable for embroidery and other DIY projects such as making bracelets, cross-stitch, and children’s crafts.
Even though it comes with only 50 skeins, this set is accessorized with 12 floss bobbins, making it possible to use the floss without entangling it. The bobbins also enable you to store the thread neatly for future use.
Features at a glance
- It comes as a set of 50 brightly colored skeins.
- Each skein is the standard 8 meters long, giving you a total of 400 meters to work with.
- It is made from polyester material.
- The polyester thread consists of 6 polyester strands.
- Thread width is adjustable by removing some of the strands.
- It comes with 12 floss bobbins.
4. Paxcoo 124 Skeins Embroidery Floss
This is by far the best package that you can get in terms of the quantities of skeins and accessories. The set contains a total of 124 skeins, each having an 8-meter long yarn. This gives you almost a kilometer-long multicolored yarn, which is enough to work on multiple projects before being depleted.
The floss is made from a polyester-cotton material that makes it soft, smooth, and glossy. Polyester gives it glossy and stretchy properties, while cotton makes it soft and very smooth. These, in addition to the colors, make the floss ideal for multiple projects, which include needlecrafts, cross-stitching, and string art, among many others.
The set is accessorized with 16 gold eye embroidery needles of different sizes to help you get started. This enables you to work on various projects that have different needle size requirements.
Features at a glance
- It comes as a kit of 124 skeins, each containing an 8-meter long yarn.
- It is accessorized with 16 differently sized gold eye needles.
- Threads cover almost 100 different colors per pack.
- It is made from a polyester-cotton material.
5. Kocean100％Cotton Embroidery ＆CrossStitch Floss
This floss is made from 100% cotton, which gives your final piece a lustrous finish because it is very smooth, soft, and silky. Cotton is also Eco-friendly, and thus, if you decide to dispose of the threads or the embroidered pieces after they have worn out, they will not harm the environment.
It comes as a set of 52 rainbow-colored skeins, which provide the color to your project, while an additional 4 metallic colored skeins add detail and a touch of sophistication. 2 of these are golden in color. At the same time, the other 2 are silver and color.
This wide range of colors will give you good options to work with for decorating your work. From cross-stitching, arts and crafts, decorations to friendship bracelets, you will have something for every job.
Each of these skeins, which total 56, is 8 meters long, giving you a total of 448 meters at your disposal. On the inside, each thread consists of 6 divisible strands, making it possible to adjust the thread’s thickness to fit the needs of various projects or different needle sizes.
Features at a glance
- 56 skeins in total: 52 rainbow-colored and 4 metallic-colored.
- It is made from 100% long-staple cotton.
- Each skein is 8 meters long, giving you a total of 448 meters of thread.
- Adjustable thread width by splitting the thread strands
- The diverse color set makes the floss suitable for a wide variety of projects.
Are You Looking For Embroidery Floss? Here’s What You Need to Consider
Before buying embroidery floss, there are certain things that you need to consider. These are:
Quantity
Embroidery floss usually comes in different quantities, which is denoted by the number of skeins. Some come in a set of 50, while others can surpass the 100-mark. Ideally, more skeins are better because they give you more options to work with.
Therefore, the best thing would be to get the set with the highest number of skeins so that you can have more colors and more thread length to work with.
Type of material
Many materials can be used to make embroidery floss. However, the most common ones are cotton and polyester. Cotton is environmentally friendly and very smooth, but it might not be stretchy.
On the other hand, polyester is stretchy and has a glossy look but is not bio-degradable. This means that it will not decompose quickly after being disposed of. However, this also means that it can stay for a longer time when used in any project than cotton.
You can also get a polyester-cotton material, which balances between these two benefits and drawbacks.
The choice of these three should be based on the project that you intend to undertake. For things such as friendship bracelets, cotton floss would be best because it is soft and smooth, making it comfortable to the skin.
Polyester is the best choice for projects such as cross stitching because it is solid.
Colors
Of course, the more the number of skeins, the more color options you get. However, you should check exactly which colors you get. Some color variations, while others might reach up to 100 different pigments in the rainbow spectrum.
More color variations are better off because embroidery is all about decorations. An even better option would be to have some metallic colors to give your work a touch of sophistication and uniqueness.
Thread length
The thread length per skein is usually set at 8 meters or 8.75 yards. However, you should check this because some might be shorter, which means that the overall length of the skeins combined would give you a shorter thread to work with.
Divisible or not
Embroidery floss might be too thick for some projects. As such, you might need to adjust its thickness by removing some strands so that it gets a little bit thin. Therefore, you should buy yarn that has divisible strands so that you can have the ability to split and group them back at will.
Accessories
Accessories are a big thing to consider when buying embroidery floss because most of them come with none. If you do not have embroidery needles, you should get embroidery floss with at least a few needles and probably a needle threader so that you can begin embellishing your fabrics immediately, without requiring to purchase other extras.
Another desirable accessory is a floss bobbin. This is important for keeping your threads organized for neat dispensing as you use them.
Even if you already have these, accessories are an added plus. However, it would help if you considered the set’s cost to not overpay for accessories that you already have or buy at a lower price.
Conclusion
As you can see, there is a lot about embroidery floss apart from its color and beauty. It is important to note that the recommended practice is to use a single manufacturer’s floss when working on a single project.
This will ensure that things such as color and thread quality remain consistent throughout and give your result a good quality stamp.
Thank you very much, Minnie Dickens. This post helped me find some what I have been looking for – your detailed descriptions really helped.