Running, bean and manual stitches

A line is sewn in one of three ways. Running lays a single row of stitches along it: outlines, fine detail and anything too thin for a satin. Bean sews each of those stitches three times, back and forth through the same holes, for a bold line that reads from a distance. Manual sews exactly the points you placed, one needle point each. For a line with a width, choose a satin column instead (Stitch types).

Select a line, switch to the Stitch view and choose its type under Type in the bar above the canvas. The bar shows the main fields — Length and Tolerance for running, Repeats as well for bean, Max stitch for manual — and Stitch settings in the right rail holds the rest, the rarer ones under Advanced. Sew the other way round starts the line at its other end.

Every figure on this page is the stitch engine's own plan for a small line: the dots are needle points, and the counts under a figure are its stitches, the ties at the line's ends included.

Running stitch

Stitch length

Length in the bar, Stitch length (mm) in Stitch settings, is the longest a stitch may be: 2.5 mm on a new line. NextStitch divides each stretch of the line between two corners into stitches of equal length no longer than that, so they come out a little shorter where the stretch does not divide evenly. On a curve they stay shorter still, within the tolerance below: past some length a curve no longer changes, and only the straight parts take the longer stitches. Move the slider to see it on a line that runs straight and then curls.

Shorter stitches follow small curves and fine detail more closely and take more stitches; longer ones lie flatter on straight lines. Object ▸ Density… makes the running stitches of the selection shorter or longer in one step, with the fills and satins (Stitch types).

Tolerance

Tolerance in the bar, Tolerance (mm) under Advanced, is how far a stitch may cut across a curve: 0.2 mm on a new line. A stitch that would leave the line by more than that ends early, where it still fits, so a curve keeps its shape. A smaller tolerance sews a curve in more, shorter stitches that hug it; a larger one in fewer, longer stitches that cut across it, up to the stitch length. On a straight stretch it changes nothing. A corner of 45° or more gets a needle point exactly on it, so corners stay sharp — unless it lies within twice the tolerance of the corner before it.

The panels show the curl of the line from the slider above, at its 2.5 mm stitch length; the counts are for the whole line.

Random stitch length

Under Advanced, Random stitch length varies each stitch a little, so lines sewn side by side don't line up into a pattern: each stitch is up to Length jitter (%) — 10 % unless you change it — shorter or longer than the stitch length, and each stretch between corners begins at a random point. New variation gives the line a new random pattern; undo brings the last one back. The same switch on a fill is in Fill settings.

Bean stitch

Bean sews every stitch of the running line three times — forward, back and forward again, through the same two holes — for a bolder, rope-like line. Repeats in the bar, Repeat count in Stitch settings, says how often: 1, which a new bean line starts with, sews each stitch three times, 2 five times, and 0 once, as a running stitch. Stitch length, tolerance and the other settings work as for running.

A bean line takes three times the stitches and thread of the same running line, five times at 2, so watch the stitch count and the sewing time. There is no figure here: the repeats lie exactly on the first stitch, so a drawing of the needle points looks like the running line.

Repeat the whole line

Repeat the whole line, in Stitch settings for running and bean lines, sews the whole line again, end to end, through the same holes: 1 to 9 times, once unless you change it. An open line is sewn back along itself and forward again, so an even number ends where it began and an odd one at the far end. A closed line is sewn round again in the same direction and always ends where it began. A bean line repeats its beans.

Where a bean goes back and forth over each stitch, this sews the whole line once before it starts again. Two passes bring the needle back to the start without a jump, which helps where the next object begins near there. The line is tied once, at its start and at the end of its last pass, never between passes, and sequins fall on the first pass only.

Every pass goes through the first pass's holes, so the figure draws the passes apart: an open line's one under the other, a closed line's rounds side by side, each with an arrow the way it is sewn. On the fabric they lie on one another. The triangle marks the first stitch and the square the last.

Manual stitches

Manual sews exactly the points you placed: every node of the line is a needle point, and nothing is added between them. A curved segment is sewn as a row of points along its curve, so draw a manual line with straight segments where every stitch matters.

Max stitch in the bar, Max stitch length (mm) in Stitch settings, splits every stitch longer than it into equal shorter ones; at 0, where a new manual line starts, nothing is split. A stitch longer than 12 mm, which a machine cannot sew, is a warning under Problems until you set a max stitch length of 12 mm or less. The design's Longest stitch (mm), in File ▸ Properties, splits every stitch of the design that is longer, and the file format you export splits at its own longest stitch (12.1 mm for PES and DST); where either splits the long stitch into stitches of 12 mm or less, it is sewn so, and Problems shows a note instead of the warning, such as "A stitch of 30 mm is sewn as 5 stitches: the design's Longest stitch (7 mm) splits it."

Each separate part of a manual line after the first starts with a jump, however close it is, so the needle never sews a stitch you did not place. Where the gap is longer than the design's trim length (3 mm in a new design), the thread is cut there too, and tied. A shorter jump is left as it is, without ties; give the line a Lock stitch to tie each part (Travel, trims and ties).

The counts include the jump to the first stitch. Drawn as one part, the same points are sewn straight on, with a stitch across each gap.

Sequins

For a machine with a sequin attachment, Sequin at every needle position, under Advanced for running and bean lines, drops a sequin at each needle point of the line. A bean line drops one only the first time the needle reaches a point, not at its repeats, and a line repeated whole only on its first pass. Only these two types offer the switch, and changing the line to another type turns it off. Every machine file format but DST sews a sequin as a plain stitch, and the export says so before you download (Export your first file).

Join running stitches and Redwork

Object ▸ Join running stitches… makes one line of two or more running or bean lines in one thread. Without Redwork, the lines are joined at their ends, in the order that needs the least travel; where they don't touch, the needle jumps, and a long jump is cut as any other.

With Redwork on, they become one line through every crossing, as redwork is sewn by hand: each segment is sewn twice, out and back, and the line ends where it began, at the start of the line you selected first, with no jump and no cut in between. Ends and crossings closer than 0.05 mm count as touching. Lines that touch none of the others are joined to the rest by jumps, and NextStitch says in how many parts.

Drawn apart, the second line is reached by a cut and a jump, each end tied. Joined with Redwork, the two are one line without a cut, which takes more stitches because every segment is sewn twice. The joined line takes the settings of the first of the lines and its place; with Redwork its whole-line repeat goes, since every segment is sewn twice already. One undo takes the join back, and the dialog keeps Redwork on or off until you reload the editor.

Good starting values

• Keep a new line's 2.5 mm stitch length and 0.2 mm tolerance for most outlines; shorten the stitch for small curves and fine detail.

• For a bold line, use Bean with Repeats at 1, or Repeat the whole line at 2 or 3. An even count brings an open line back to its start.

• Draw manual lines with straight segments, and set Max stitch length (mm) wherever a stitch is longer than your machine sews.

• Join crossing lines with Redwork to sew them without a cut.