Design & Fill The geometry the digitiser sets

Design Width mm

Design Height mm

Filled Proportion of the Bounding Box %

Stitch Length mm

Fill Row Spacing mm

Distance between adjacent tatami rows

Underlay Addition %

Machine & Materials What turns stitches into hours and metres

Machine Speed spm

Machine Efficiency %

Heads on the Machine

Thread per Stitch Ratio x

Thread consumed divided by stitch length

Bobbin Thread vs Top Thread %

Backing Margin Beyond the Design mm

Total Stitch Count

— stitches

Fill plus underlay - the figure the job is priced on

Thread, Time & Materials per Piece

Fill Stitches: — stitches
Underlay Stitches: — stitches
Top Thread per Piece: — m
Bobbin Thread per Piece: — m
Total Thread per Piece: — m
Run Time per Piece: — min
Output across all Heads: — pcs/h
Backing per Piece: — cm2

This models an area fill. Satin columns follow different geometry - stitch count there scales with column length and density rather than with area - so a design that is mostly satin borders and lettering will be underestimated by treating it as a fill. The thread ratio of 1.4 is representative of flat woven goods; caps, towelling, 3D foam and thick outerwear all draw more thread per stitch and should be raised towards 1.8. Machine efficiency here absorbs colour changes, trims and jumps but not hooping, thread breaks or bobbin changes, so a machine measured over a shift will read lower than the figure entered. Backing area is the flat consumption per piece and takes no account of how backing is cut from the roll; a nested cutting plan recovers part of the margin, and tear-away used on a knit that needs cut-away will show correct here and fail in wash.

Embroidery Stitch Count, Thread & Backing Consumption Calculator — free, with the formula and a worked example, at Textile School.