Dishcloths

Crochet dishcloth yarn: how much, and which cotton?

A crochet dishcloth of 20 to 27cm square takes about one 50g ball of cotton: 15 of the 16 square patterns we checked ask for 40 to 75g, or roughly 60 to 116 metres. Every UK cotton we looked at is machine washable, but only one listing clearly allows a hot wash: Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/8, at 95°C for whites. Rico Creative Cotton Aran is listed at 60°C, yet the care symbol on Rico’s own page shows 30°C. We compiled 20 published patterns and the care lines and prices of 12 cotton yarns sold in the UK, checked on 2 October 2026.

HazelLoop planning guide · Reviewed 2 October 2026 · Figures from cited sources

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The quick answer: yarn per cloth and cost per cloth

The table below prices one dishcloth in each yarn. We took 105 metres for a DK cloth, the figure four DK patterns of 23 to 27cm cluster around, and 90 metres for an aran or worsted cloth, close to the middle of eight aran and worsted patterns (91m). Cloths per ball is the ball’s length divided by that figure, and cost per cloth is the share of one ball’s price.

A figure under 1 means one ball won’t quite make a 25cm cloth. With 50g aran cotton such as Rico Creative Cotton Aran (85m), that is borderline: Handy Little Me asks for one ball per 26cm cloth in exactly that yarn, so a cloth that size can take the whole ball. A 20cm cloth, like Annie Design Crochet’s 60 to 70m washcloth, fits in one ball with room to spare.

On 2 October 2026 the cheapest cottons per cloth were Yarnsmiths Cotton DK and Cotton Aran on sale at £1.19 a ball, and Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/8 at £1.10: about £1.20 to £1.35 a cloth. Hobbii says it lowered that yarn’s price because its texture turned out slightly different from Hobbii’s usual standard. Of the other yarns not on sale, Stylecraft Craft Cotton came lowest, at £1.64 a cloth. Stylecraft describes it as a basic craft cotton ideal for dish-cloths.

Cloths per ball and yarn cost per cloth, 12 cotton yarns sold in the UK plus one acrylic. One cloth = 105m of DK or 90m of aran/worsted, about 23–27cm square. Lengths, care and prices from the shop page named (Wool Warehouse care is the text beside each care icon), checked 2 October 2026; Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/8 is sold as Light but has aran-like metres per 100g, so it is costed at 90m.
Yarn	Fibre	Ball	Metres per 100g	Cloths per ball	Price per ball, shop	Yarn cost per cloth	Wash (max)	Tumble dry
Paintbox Yarns Cotton DK	100% cotton	50g, 125m	250	1.2	£1.79 (sale; £2.75 full), LoveCrafts	£1.50	40°C	No
Yarnsmiths Cotton DK	100% cotton	50g, 106m	212	1.0	£1.19 (sale; £2.00 full), Wool Warehouse	£1.18	40°C mild	Low heat
Stylecraft Craft Cotton	100% cotton	100g, 166m	166	1.6	£2.59, Wool Warehouse	£1.64	40°C mild	Low heat
James C Brett Cotton Waves DK	100% cotton	100g, 210m	210	2.0	£3.69, Wool Warehouse	£1.84	30°C mild	Low heat
King Cole Cottonsoft DK	100% cotton	100g, 210m	210	2.0	£4.59, Wool Warehouse	£2.29	30°C mild	No
Patons 100% Cotton DK	100% cotton	100g, 210m	210	2.0	£6.49, Wool Warehouse	£3.25	40°C very gentle	No
Sirdar Cotton DK	100% cotton	100g, 212m	212	2.0	£6.99, Wool Warehouse	£3.46	40°C mild	Not listed (dry flat)
Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/8	100% cotton	50g, 75m	150	0.8	£1.10 (less from 4 balls), Hobbii	£1.32	40°C; whites 95°C	No
Yarnsmiths Cotton Aran	100% cotton	50g, 80m	160	0.9	£1.19 (sale; £2.00 full), Wool Warehouse	£1.34	40°C mild	Low heat
Rico Creative Cotton Aran	100% cotton	50g, 85m	170	0.9	£2.49, Wool Warehouse	£2.64	60°C mild (Rico’s own symbol: 30°C gentle)	No
Lily Sugar’n Cream Solids	100% cotton	71g, 109m	154	1.2	£3.29, Wool Warehouse	£2.72	30°C very mild	Low heat
Paintbox Yarns Cotton Aran	100% cotton	50g, 85m	170	0.9	£2.75, LoveCrafts	£2.91	40°C	No
Stylecraft Special DK (acrylic, for comparison)	100% acrylic	100g, 295m	295	2.8	£2.35, Wool Warehouse	£0.84	30°C mild	Low heat

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Where the numbers come from

We opened free patterns from Handy Little Me, Annie Design Crochet, Dora Does, Daisy Farm Crafts, Sigoni Macaroni, Crochet 365 Knit Too, Leelee Knits, Crochet It Creations and Yarnspirations, and kept the 20 that give a finished size and a yarn quantity. Yards were converted at 0.9144m and ounces at 28.35g. Where a designer gave grams and named the yarn, we converted with that yarn’s metres per gram.

Some designers give the yarn you use; others give what to buy, such as one ball. We’ve marked buying quantities as up to that amount. The quantities are the designers’ own; HazelLoop hasn’t made these cloths. Yarn lengths, fibre, care lines and prices come from Wool Warehouse, LoveCrafts and Hobbii product pages, with the makers’ own pages for Lily Sugar’n Cream, Stylecraft Craft Cotton and Rico Creative Cotton Aran, checked on 2 October 2026.

How much yarn for a dishcloth, pattern by pattern

Size and stitch set the amount. The 16 square cloths of 20 to 27cm sit between 40 and 75g where grams are given, and from 60 to 116 metres where length is given, with one exception: Sigoni Macaroni’s ribbed washcloth in half trebles (US half double crochet) worked in the third loop, which used almost a whole 186-yard skein, about 170m, for 25.4cm. So a textured stitch can need more than one 50g ball.

Smaller cloths need much less. Leelee Knits’ 17.8cm washcloth in double crochet (US single crochet) takes 70 yards, about 64m. Crochet It Creations gets two 19cm bubble cloths from one 109m skein of Peaches & Creme. Annie Design Crochet puts an 8-inch (20cm) square in worsted cotton at around 50 to 60 yards, which is 46 to 55m.

Yarn per cloth in 20 published crochet dishcloth, washcloth and face-cloth patterns: designer’s stated quantity, converted to metres and grams where the yarn is named. Up to = a buying quantity, not measured use. Checked 2 October 2026.
Pattern (designer)	Yarn	Finished size	Hook	Stated quantity	Metres per cloth	Grams per cloth
Candy Cane Stripe (Handy Little Me)	Aran cotton	25.5 × 25.5cm	4 or 5mm	30–35g of each of 2 colours	Not given	60–70g
Ribbed, Chevron and Close Shells (Handy Little Me)	Rico Creative Cotton Aran	26 × 26cm	4.5mm	1 × “30/50g” ball per cloth	Up to 85m	Up to 50g
Granny Square Dishcloth (Handy Little Me)	Aran cotton; Rico Creative Cotton Aran suggested	25.4 × 25.4cm	5mm	1 × 50g ball per cloth	Up to 85m	Up to 50g
Farmhouse Dishcloth (Handy Little Me)	Lily Sugar’n Cream	20.3 or 25.4cm square	5mm	1 ball	Up to 109m	Up to 71g
Beginner Crochet Dishcloth (Handy Little Me)	Ricorumi Spin Spin DK Cotton	25 × 25cm	4mm	1 ball (50g, 115m)	Up to 115m	Up to 50g
Simple Spring Dishcloths (Daisy Farm Crafts)	Bernat Softee Cotton, 60% cotton 40% acrylic	22.9 × 24.1cm	5mm	1 skein (120g, 232m) makes at least 2	Up to 116m	Up to 60g
Ribbed washcloth in the third loop (Sigoni Macaroni)	Lion Brand 24/7 Cotton	25.4 × 25.4cm	4.5mm	Almost all of a 186yd skein	About 170m	Not given
Mama’s Easy Dishcloth (Crochet 365 Knit Too)	Lily Sugar’n Cream	22.9 × 22.9cm	5mm	1¾oz	76m	50g
Seed Stitch Dish Cloth (Crochet 365 Knit Too)	I Love This Cotton	25.4 × 25.4cm	4mm	2oz	Not given	57g
All Washed Up washcloth (Crochet 365 Knit Too)	Universal Clean Cotton	21.6 × 21.6cm	5mm	1¾oz per cloth	Not given	50g
Quick and Easy Dishcloth (Annie Design Crochet)	DK cotton	20 × 20cm	4mm	40–50g plus a little contrast	Not given	40–50g
Free Easy Washcloth for Beginners (Annie Design Crochet)	Yarn and Colors Epic	20 × 20cm	5mm	60–70m	60–70m	40–47g
The Only Cotton Washcloth (Annie Design Crochet)	Hobbii Friends Cotton 8/6	23 × 23cm	4mm	Less than 1 × 50g ball	Under 105m	Under 50g
Easy Crochet Washcloth (Annie Design Crochet)	Stylecraft Naturals Organic Cotton	23 × 23cm	4mm	About 1 × 50g ball	About 105m	About 50g
Houndstooth Dishcloth (Annie Design Crochet)	Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/6	27 × 27cm	4mm	25g each of 2 colours plus a little contrast	105m plus border	50g plus border
Scrubbing Waffle Dishcloth (Yarnspirations)	Lily Sugar’n Cream Scrub Off	25.5 × 25.5cm	5mm	1 ball (75g, 97m)	Up to 97m	Up to 75g
Bubble Dishcloth (Crochet It Creations)	Peaches & Creme	19 × 19cm	5.5mm	1 skein (71g, 109m) makes 2	Up to 55m	Up to 35g
Favourite Crochet Washcloth (Leelee Knits)	Knit Picks Dishie	17.8 × 17.8cm	5mm	70yd	64m	Not given
The Happy Face Cloth, round (Dora Does)	Lily Sugar’n Cream	22cm across	5.5mm	15–20g	23–31m	15–20g
Reusable face scrubbie, round (Sigoni Macaroni)	Lion Brand 24/7 Cotton	10cm across	4.5mm	At least 6 from a 186yd skein	Up to 28m	Not given

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Cotton or acrylic for dishcloths: what the labels say

On the care labels alone, acrylic is no harder to look after. Stylecraft Special DK, our acrylic comparison, allows 30°C and a low tumble dry. Of the 12 cottons, five allow a low tumble dry and the rest say do not tumble dry or dry flat. Eight of the 12 list 40°C as their limit, a warmer wash than Special DK’s 30°C.

Acrylic is also cheaper per cloth: about 84p of Special DK at £2.35 a ball. The case designers make for cotton is about use, not labels. Annie Design Crochet says to avoid acrylic for washcloths if you can, because it doesn’t absorb water the way cotton does. We have no measured absorbency figures, so we leave that claim with her.

Shop descriptions don’t always match the care line. LoveCrafts’ Paintbox Yarns Cotton DK page describes the yarn as suiting “summer tops, market bags, dishcloths and baby blankets that need to survive a hot wash”, while the same page says “Machine wash at 40°C, do not tumble dry”. Its Paintbox Yarns Cotton Aran page says “All Paintbox Yarns Cotton yarns are a 100% Cotton blend, machine washable and can be tumble dried”, but its care line reads “Do Not Bleach, Do Not Tumble Dry, Machine Wash 40°C, Warm Iron”. When the two disagree, follow the care line on the ball band.

Our yarn care symbols guide explains what each symbol means. Our acrylic, cotton or wool guide compares the fibres for blankets; none of the four pure cottons in that guide allowed tumble drying, but this wider list of dishcloth cottons includes five that do.

Hot washes: what each label allows

If you want to wash cloths hot, check the care line before you buy. Hobbii’s Rainbow Cotton 8/8 page says “Machine wash 40°C (104°F) / white 95°C (203°F) / Do not tumble dry”. Rico Creative Cotton Aran is the awkward one. Wool Warehouse lists it at 60°C, and Rico’s own product text says “Pflege: waschbar bis 60°C” (care: washable up to 60°C), but the care symbol on the same Rico page is “30 °C Feinwäsche/Wollwäsche”, a 30°C delicate or wool wash. LoveCrafts gives no wash temperature for it. A cooler wash than the label is always allowed, so 30°C suits either reading.

Lily Sugar’n Cream’s maker, Yarnspirations, says wash colours separately, as some colours may run, in water not exceeding 30°C on a delicate setting. Our yarn care symbols guide explains that a label shows the maximum. If you mix yarns in one cloth, wash it the way the most delicate yarn asks. Among the yarns we checked, Hobbii’s is the only label with a separate, higher limit for white yarn, so 95°C applies to white Rainbow Cotton 8/8 only.

Face scrubbies and round face cloths

Reusable face rounds use very little yarn. Sigoni Macaroni gets at least six 10cm scrubbies from one 186-yard skein of Lion Brand 24/7 Cotton, so each one takes up to 28m. At that rate, a 109m ball of Lily Sugar’n Cream makes three, and an 85m ball of Rico Creative Cotton Aran makes about three. Handy Little Me’s 8cm scrubbies are in Rico Creative Cotton Aran, and she says she made one with less than 20g of yarn in each of the five colours she lists.

A full face cloth is closer to a dishcloth. Dora Does’ Happy Face Cloth is 22cm across and used 15 to 20g of Lily Sugar’n Cream, about 23 to 31m. Yarnspirations’ face scrubbie pattern is 10cm across on a 4mm hook. For gifts in a set, the Christmas gifts guide has yarn per gift for other small makes.

Planning a batch

Work from metres rather than balls. Five DK cloths at 105m each need 525m: three 100g balls of a 210m DK, or five 50g balls of Paintbox Cotton DK at 125m, with 100m left over. The yarn budget calculator does this sum if you enter the metres per cloth and the metres on your ball band.

Stripes and borders change the count, because each colour rounds up to whole balls on its own. The materials list for Annie Design Crochet’s Houndstooth Dishcloth gives 25g each of two colours, so two 50g balls of each make four cloths before the borders. For hooks, Annie Design Crochet suggests 4mm for DK cotton and 5mm for worsted; the hook size finder covers other yarns.

Check before you move on

Finished size decided: 20cm, 23cm or 25cm square changes the yarn by a third
Metres per ball taken from the actual ball band
Wash temperature and tumble-dry line checked on the label, not the shop blurb
Each colour, including border colours, rounded up to whole balls on its own
One spare ball allowed for a dense or ridged stitch

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Common questions

How much yarn do I need for a crochet dishcloth?

For a 20 to 27cm square, about one 50g ball of cotton. The 16 square patterns we checked asked for 40 to 75g, or about 60 to 116 metres, except one dense ribbed cloth at about 170m.

What is the best yarn for crochet dishcloths in the UK?

Designers mostly use 100% cotton in DK or aran. On price per cloth, Yarnsmiths Cotton DK and Aran on sale and Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/8 came lowest, at about £1.20 to £1.35, checked 2 October 2026. For hot washes, Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/8 allows 95°C in white.

How many dishcloths from one ball of cotton?

It depends on the ball. A 50g aran ball of 80 to 85m makes one cloth of up to about 25cm. A 100g DK ball of 210m makes two 23cm cloths. A 109m ball of Lily Sugar’n Cream makes one dishcloth, or three face scrubbies.

Can you use acrylic yarn for dishcloths?

You can, and Stylecraft Special DK’s label allows 30°C and a low tumble dry. Designers such as Annie Design Crochet still recommend cotton, saying acrylic doesn’t absorb water the way cotton does.

Can crochet dishcloths be washed at 60°C?

Only if the yarn label allows it. Of the 12 cottons we checked, only Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/8 clearly allows it, at 95°C for whites and 40°C for colours. Rico Creative Cotton Aran is listed at 60°C, but Rico’s own care symbol shows 30°C, so check the band.

Sources and scope

Sources checked 2 October 2026. Label facts come from the linked references; worked purchase examples and arithmetic are our own illustrations.

Keep planning

These are planning methods, not physically tested crochet patterns. Read our method and editorial approach.