Remove overlaps

Artwork is often drawn in layers: a disc, a smaller disc on top of it, a sun on top of that. On screen only the top layer shows. A machine sews every layer, so where shapes overlap the fabric gets two or three layers of thread — thick, stiff and slow to sew.

Make stitch-ready

When an SVG you import has overlaps, a notice says how many spots and offers Make stitch-ready…. It splits the artwork into areas that don't overlap: hidden parts are removed, touching areas of one colour are joined, and curves become fine straight segments. Where an area is cut by one on top of it, it reaches 0.3 mm under the upper one, as Remove overlaps does below (Advanced ▸ Kept overlap). Every fill it makes also starts with an Overlap of 0.2 mm in its stitch settings: it is grown by that much all round as it is sewn, so areas that only touch close up as well (Fill and underlay). Import replaces the artwork in your design; Undo brings it back.

You can also start there: File ▸ Import… offers Make stitch-ready… before you pick the file.

Shapes you drew yourself

Path ▸ Remove overlaps does the same for the shapes you drew: each shape keeps only what is visible of it, so every spot is sewn once, and keeps its name and stitch settings. It works on the selected shapes, or on all of them when nothing is selected, and one Undo takes it back. Leftovers smaller than 0.5 mm² are dropped.

Fills pull in as they are sewn, so two areas that only meet edge to edge show a line of fabric between them. Where a shape is cut by one on top of it, it therefore keeps a narrow band of what it lost and reaches that far under the upper shape along the cut: Kept overlap in the Path menu, 0.3 mm unless you change it (0 to 5 mm). The upper shape is sewn afterwards and covers the band, so its edge stays exactly where you drew it, and running Remove overlaps again changes nothing. Shapes that merely touched are left as they are.

Path ▸ Divide goes further: every region the outlines enclose becomes a shape of its own, with the stitch settings of the shape on top there. The regions are sewn side by side and pull apart like any neighbours, so they keep the same Kept overlap: where a cut runs through a shape, the region sewn earlier reaches that far under the one sewn after it, which keeps its edge. Regions of two shapes that only touched get none.

Path ▸ Subtract from bottom shape cuts the upper shapes out of the lowest one, and Subtract from top shape cuts the lower ones out of the topmost one. Either replaces the shapes with what is left of the one it cut, which keeps its own settings. Union, Intersect and Exclude take the settings of the topmost shape. With Keep originals ticked in the Path menu, all of these commands add their result and leave your shapes as they are. Curves stay curves throughout.

To decide region by region, use the Shape Builder (X): select the overlapping shapes and pick the tool, and it shows them cut into regions along their outlines. Click the visible part of the lower shape and press Enter. A region you don't touch goes to the shape that lies on top of it, so the lower shape loses the part hidden under the upper one, and the upper shape stays whole. Dragging across regions merges them into one shape; holding Alt, a click or drag removes regions. The Shape Builder keeps the same overlap where it cuts a shape (Overlap in its tool bar). More in Drawing and editing.