Embroidery Stitch Count Cost Calculator

Stitches are the unit of cost

Embroidery is priced by stitch count, because stitches are what consume machine time and thread. A design is digitised into a stitch file and the count comes from that.

Typical pricing is a rate per thousand stitches, commonly £0.60 to £1.50 depending on volume and the supplier, with a minimum charge per garment.

Which means the design's complexity determines its cost far more than its size. A small dense logo can carry more stitches than a large open one, and cost more accordingly.

Estimating the count before digitising

A rough guide is that a fully filled area runs around 1,500 to 2,000 stitches per square inch, and outline or line work far fewer.

A typical left-chest logo of two to three inches wide runs 5,000 to 12,000 stitches depending on how much of it is filled. A large back design can exceed 40,000.

The estimate is rough and useful for budgeting. The exact figure comes from digitising, which is a one-off cost per design, typically £15 to £60, and is worth obtaining before committing to a design that turns out to be expensive to stitch.

Designing for the medium

Embroidery cannot reproduce fine detail. Thread has a physical width, and detail below roughly a millimetre disappears or turns to a lump.

Small text is the most common failure. Below about 5 millimetres cap height, letters become illegible regardless of the digitiser's skill, and thin serifs fail before that.

Gradients and photographic content are not achievable in any straightforward way. Designs suited to embroidery are bold, use solid colour areas, and have a limited palette. A logo designed for screen and print frequently needs simplification before it can be stitched at all.

Colour changes and thread

Each thread colour requires a needle on the machine, and machines have a fixed number, commonly six to fifteen heads.

Designs within the machine's colour count run without intervention. Designs exceeding it require a manual thread change mid-run, which costs time on every garment and is priced accordingly.

Colour count also affects the stitch count through underlay and trims. A design with many small colour blocks carries more jump stitches and trims than one with few large ones, at the same visual complexity.

Where embroidery beats printing

Embroidery reads as more premium than printing in most contexts, particularly on workwear, polos, caps and outerwear. That perception is worth a price premium in most markets.

It is also considerably more durable. A stitched logo survives the garment, where a print degrades with washing.

The constraints are the ones above: small designs only, limited detail, and a cost that rises with complexity rather than with quantity. Which means embroidery suits logos and printing suits artwork, and choosing between them is usually settled by which of those the design is.

Backing and garment type add cost in ways the stitch count does not capture. Stretchy fabrics need cut-away backing rather than tear-away, which costs more and is more work to trim. Caps run on a different machine attachment and are priced separately from flat goods. And thick or textured garments, fleece especially, need a topping laid over the surface so the stitches do not sink into the pile. None of these appear in a stitch count and all of them appear on the invoice.