diff --git a/cc3200/mpthreadport.c b/cc3200/mpthreadport.c
index 7cc44d73dc..a9fb3f0d47 100644
--- a/cc3200/mpthreadport.c
+++ b/cc3200/mpthreadport.c
@@ -107,32 +107,37 @@ STATIC void freertos_entry(void *arg) {
     }
 }
 
-void mp_thread_create(void *(*entry)(void*), void *arg, size_t stack_size) {
+void mp_thread_create(void *(*entry)(void*), void *arg, size_t *stack_size) {
     // store thread entry function into a global variable so we can access it
     ext_thread_entry = entry;
 
-    if (stack_size == 0) {
-        stack_size = 2048; // default stack size
+    if (*stack_size == 0) {
+        *stack_size = 4096; // default stack size
+    } else if (*stack_size < 2048) {
+        *stack_size = 2048; // minimum stack size
     }
 
     mp_thread_mutex_lock(&thread_mutex, 1);
 
     // create thread
-    StackType_t *stack = m_new(StackType_t, stack_size / sizeof(StackType_t));
+    StackType_t *stack = m_new(StackType_t, *stack_size / sizeof(StackType_t));
     StaticTask_t *task_buf = m_new(StaticTask_t, 1);
-    TaskHandle_t id = xTaskCreateStatic(freertos_entry, "Thread", stack_size / sizeof(void*), arg, 2, stack, task_buf);
+    TaskHandle_t id = xTaskCreateStatic(freertos_entry, "Thread", *stack_size / sizeof(void*), arg, 2, stack, task_buf);
     if (id == NULL) {
         mp_thread_mutex_unlock(&thread_mutex);
         nlr_raise(mp_obj_new_exception_arg1(&mp_type_OSError, "can't create thread"));
     }
 
+    // adjust stack_size to provide room to recover from hitting the limit
+    *stack_size -= 512;
+
     // add thread to linked list of all threads
     thread_t *th = m_new_obj(thread_t);
     th->id = id;
     th->ready = 0;
     th->arg = arg;
     th->stack = stack;
-    th->stack_len = stack_size / sizeof(StackType_t);
+    th->stack_len = *stack_size / sizeof(StackType_t);
     th->next = thread;
     thread = th;
 
diff --git a/py/modthread.c b/py/modthread.c
index e5d040671b..6c8340c928 100644
--- a/py/modthread.c
+++ b/py/modthread.c
@@ -160,6 +160,7 @@ STATIC mp_obj_t mod_thread_stack_size(size_t n_args, const mp_obj_t *args) {
 STATIC MP_DEFINE_CONST_FUN_OBJ_VAR_BETWEEN(mod_thread_stack_size_obj, 0, 1, mod_thread_stack_size);
 
 typedef struct _thread_entry_args_t {
+    size_t stack_size;
     mp_obj_t fun;
     size_t n_args;
     size_t n_kw;
@@ -175,7 +176,7 @@ STATIC void *thread_entry(void *args_in) {
     mp_thread_set_state(&ts);
 
     mp_stack_set_top(&ts + 1); // need to include ts in root-pointer scan
-    mp_stack_set_limit(16 * 1024); // fixed stack limit for now
+    mp_stack_set_limit(args->stack_size);
 
     MP_THREAD_GIL_ENTER();
 
@@ -256,11 +257,14 @@ STATIC mp_obj_t mod_thread_start_new_thread(size_t n_args, const mp_obj_t *args)
     th_args->n_args = pos_args_len;
     memcpy(th_args->args, pos_args_items, pos_args_len * sizeof(mp_obj_t));
 
+    // set the stack size to use
+    th_args->stack_size = thread_stack_size;
+
     // set the function for thread entry
     th_args->fun = args[0];
 
     // spawn the thread!
-    mp_thread_create(thread_entry, th_args, thread_stack_size);
+    mp_thread_create(thread_entry, th_args, &th_args->stack_size);
 
     return mp_const_none;
 }
diff --git a/py/mpthread.h b/py/mpthread.h
index 75e8984ba6..7f8d4dec7c 100644
--- a/py/mpthread.h
+++ b/py/mpthread.h
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ struct _mp_state_thread_t;
 
 struct _mp_state_thread_t *mp_thread_get_state(void);
 void mp_thread_set_state(void *state);
-void mp_thread_create(void *(*entry)(void*), void *arg, size_t stack_size);
+void mp_thread_create(void *(*entry)(void*), void *arg, size_t *stack_size);
 void mp_thread_start(void);
 void mp_thread_finish(void);
 void mp_thread_mutex_init(mp_thread_mutex_t *mutex);
diff --git a/unix/mpthreadport.c b/unix/mpthreadport.c
index 336db3aa92..e5cfe7a669 100644
--- a/unix/mpthreadport.c
+++ b/unix/mpthreadport.c
@@ -133,10 +133,12 @@ void mp_thread_start(void) {
     pthread_mutex_unlock(&thread_mutex);
 }
 
-void mp_thread_create(void *(*entry)(void*), void *arg, size_t stack_size) {
-    // default stack size is 8k machine-words
-    if (stack_size == 0) {
-        stack_size = 8192 * BYTES_PER_WORD;
+void mp_thread_create(void *(*entry)(void*), void *arg, size_t *stack_size) {
+    // default stack size is 8k machine-words, minimum is 2k
+    if (*stack_size == 0) {
+        *stack_size = 8192 * BYTES_PER_WORD;
+    } else if (*stack_size < 2048 * BYTES_PER_WORD) {
+        *stack_size = 2048 * BYTES_PER_WORD;
     }
 
     // set thread attributes
@@ -145,7 +147,7 @@ void mp_thread_create(void *(*entry)(void*), void *arg, size_t stack_size) {
     if (ret != 0) {
         goto er;
     }
-    ret = pthread_attr_setstacksize(&attr, stack_size);
+    ret = pthread_attr_setstacksize(&attr, *stack_size);
     if (ret != 0) {
         goto er;
     }
@@ -160,6 +162,9 @@ void mp_thread_create(void *(*entry)(void*), void *arg, size_t stack_size) {
         goto er;
     }
 
+    // adjust stack_size to provide room to recover from hitting the limit
+    *stack_size -= 1024 * BYTES_PER_WORD;
+
     // add thread to linked list of all threads
     thread_t *th = malloc(sizeof(thread_t));
     th->id = id;