Travel, trims and ties

Between two objects of one thread the needle does one of three things. Where the gap is short, it sews over it with a stitch and goes on. Where it is longer, it jumps: it moves without sewing and pulls the thread across, for you to snip by hand. Or the machine trims: it cuts the thread, and the next object starts afresh. A change of colour always cuts. Wherever the thread is cut, NextStitch first ties it with a few tiny stitches, so it cannot pull loose. This page is the reference for every setting that decides which; Arranging and stitch order is the guide to the order itself.

The design's settings are in File ▸ Properties… ▸ Production; an object's own are in Finish in the bar above the canvas and at the end of Stitch settings in the right rail. Every figure here is the stitch engine's own plan: dots are ties, circles trims and dashed lines jumps.

Here three lines of one thread, 2.5 mm and 6.5 mm apart, are sewn with a new design's settings: the short gap is sewn over, the long one is cut, and each cut is tied on both sides.

Trim jumps longer than

Trim jumps longer than (mm) decides which jumps the machine cuts: every move in one thread that is longer, whether between two objects or two parts of one object. A new design cuts every jump over 3 mm. 0 cuts none; so does a design saved before the setting existed, which shows 0. A move no longer than the stitch-over gap below is sewn over instead, so with both at 3 mm every move is either sewn over or cut, and no jump is left to snip. A move longer than the gap but not longer than the trim length stays a jump, tied at both ends, for you to snip.

At 1 and 2 mm both gaps are cut: the stitch-over gap follows the trim length down, so even the short gap is cut. From 3 to 6 mm the short gap is sewn over and the long one cut. At 7 and 8 mm, and at 0, nothing is cut, and the long gap is a jump left to snip. The counts include the jump to the first stitch. A longer trim length leaves more jumps to snip; a shorter one makes the machine cut more often, which takes time.

Stitch-over gap

Stitch-over gap (mm) is the longest move the machine sews over with one stitch instead of jumping: 3 mm unless you change it, from 0.5 to 10 mm. It is never longer than the trim length, because a longer move is cut and cannot be sewn over; the field shows the length that applies. A smaller gap leaves fewer threads lying across the fabric between parts; a larger one sews over more and cuts less, where a thread across a small gap won't show. Letters set to Join where close run on to the next letter up to the same length (Lettering and Satin (area)).

Trim after

An object's own Trim after — in Finish in the bar, and under Finish in Stitch settings — decides the cut after that object:

• Automatic, which every object starts with, leaves it to the design: the thread is cut after the object only where the move to the next one is longer than the trim length.

• Always ties off and cuts after the object, even before one close by, and after the last object of the design too.

• Never leaves out the automatic cut after the object, for a jump the next object hides; the jump is not tied either. A colour change still cuts, since a colour change without a cut tangles, and a pause still halts the machine.

In the figure all three lines have the same setting. A whole text or group finishes once, after its last part.

Pause after, beside it, halts the machine after the object: Colour change for a thread change, even to the same colour, Stop without one, for an appliqué say. Many file formats (PES, DST, EXP) know only the colour change and write a stop as one. A pause also orders the stitching: what was drawn before the object is sewn before it, what comes after, after it.

Ties

Tie the thread at cuts and jumps

Tie the thread at cuts and jumps sews a few tiny stitches back and forth before and after every cut — a trim, a colour change, a stop — around every jump left for you to snip, and at the start and end of the design, so the thread cannot pull loose. It is on in every design unless you turn it off. The tie is a half stitch: out along the object's first or last stitches and back, at most 1.5 mm at the Normal size. An object with a lock stitch of its own keeps its own instead, and a machine file's stitches are sewn as they are, with nothing added.

Turned off, only what asks for a tie is tied: an object's own lock stitch, and an object set to Trim after ▸ Always or with a pause after it, which is tied off before its own cut.

To see where your design is tied, switch on Machine commands in the Simulation: a small dot marks each tie-in, a small ring each tie-off (Machine commands and ties).

Tie size

Tie size sets how far every tie of the design reaches, an object's own lock stitch and the ties at cuts alike: Small is 70 % of Normal, Large 140 %. Large holds better with slippery thread and on loose fabric; Small shows less in fine detail and small lettering. A half stitch never reaches past the stitch it runs along.

Lock stitch

Lock stitch, under Finish at the end of Stitch settings in the right rail, gives an object a tie of its own. Automatic, which every object starts with, has none: the object is tied wherever the thread is cut, with the half stitch above. Zig-zag, Triangle and Half stitch tie the object at its start and its end in their own shape:

• Zig-zag: four needle points that reach 2.8 mm into the object, stepping about 0.2 mm to either side;

• Triangle: three needle points in a small triangle, within 0.84 mm of the first stitch;

• Half stitch: out along the object's first stitches and back, up to 1.5 mm.

These are their Normal sizes; Tie size makes them smaller or larger.

The figure draws each tie-in stitch by stitch, at the start of the same line; elsewhere on this page a tie is a dot. A lock stitch also ties where the design's ties would not: around a jump that Trim after ▸ Never leaves uncut, around the jumps between a manual object's parts (Manual stitches), and with Tie the thread at cuts and jumps off. Where the object runs straight on into the next — a gap sewn over, or a connector hidden under the next object — nothing is tied, whatever its lock stitch.

Hide connectors under the next object

Hide connectors under the next object sews the move to the next object of the same thread as running stitches under it, instead of a jump or a cut: the thread disappears under the stitching, and there is nothing to snip or tie, on a machine without a trimmer too. It is on in every new design; a design made before the setting existed has it off and sews as it did. It applies where all of these hold:

• the next object is in the same thread, and nothing between asks for a cut: no colour change, no pause, no Trim after ▸ Always;

• the next object covers its area: a fill — Auto-fill, Contour, Circular or Guided fill — a Tartan or Satin (area). A meander, a ripple, cross stitch, an appliqué or a line leaves too much fabric open;

• the move lies inside it, at least 0.75 mm from its edges, but for its last 1.5 mm, where it reaches the object's first stitch at the edge.

The connector's stitches are as long as the stitch-over gap at most.

On, the connector is the straight line from the stem's end to where the leaf begins, under the leaf's rows; on the fabric they cover it.

Where each object starts and ends

In the Stitch view, with one object selected, a green triangle marks where its stitching starts and a red square where it ends. NextStitch enters each object near where the needle comes from and leaves it toward the next one. For auto-fills, guided and circular fills, meanders, ripples, Satin (area) and contour fills sewn as a spiral or as smoothed rings you can set the points yourself: drag a marker to set that end, and double-click it to go back to the default. A meander, a ripple, a contour fill or Satin (area) follows its markers wherever it is sewn, first in the design too, as near as its stitches allow: a ripple always has one end at its centre, a single spiral set to Inward ends in the middle, and a small meander has only a few places to start and end. An end point you set replaces the aim at the next object. Object ▸ Auto start and end points writes the points into the design, each next to its neighbours, so they stay put when the shapes around them change. Every other object shows the same markers hollow: they show where the sewing order enters and leaves it, and can't be dragged. More in Where fills start and end.

Colour order and sewing order

Unless you say otherwise, NextStitch chooses the order itself: by thread, each colour in one go, the nearest object next, wherever the picture stays the same. Sew in layer order in File ▸ Properties… ▸ Production, or Sew in this order in the Sewing order panel — both switch the same setting — sews exactly the order of the layers instead, for a design you ordered by hand.

To choose which colour comes first, drag the threads into that order under Threads in this design ▸ Preferred colour order, in the Design group of the right rail, or move them with the arrows; Clear removes the preference. NextStitch takes the colours in that order wherever the overlaps leave a choice: it never sews an object before one it must follow, finishes the colour in hand before it starts the next, and never changes colour more often than the order you drew the objects in. The preference applies to NextStitch's own order, not with Sew in layer order on.

In layer order the six change colour five times. The optimised order sews each colour in one go, here blue first; with red, green, blue preferred, it takes the colours in that order. Sort by colour groups the colours of a design you sew in layer order.

Smallest stitch

Smallest stitch (mm), in File ▸ Properties… ▸ Production, is the shortest stitch the design keeps: where two needle points lie this close or closer, the second is left out, so the needle does not stab the same spot and break the thread. It is 0.1 mm unless you change it, and goes up to 1 mm; above that a satin's tips would suffer. A machine under My machines can bring its own value, which a new design for it starts with, and the next new design starts with the one you set last.

Where a design has many very short stitches, Problems warns about them and offers Remove stitches of 0.5 mm and shorter: one click sets the smallest stitch to 0.5 mm, one step to undo. It is not the default, since every design's stitches would change with it.

Good starting values

• Keep a new design's 3 mm trim length and 3 mm stitch-over gap: every move is then either sewn over or cut.

• Leave Tie the thread at cuts and jumps and Hide connectors under the next object on.

• Keep the ties Normal; choose Large for slippery thread or loose fabric, Small for fine detail.

• Leave Trim after on Automatic, and choose Never only for a jump the next object hides.

• Set a Preferred colour order to match your needles, or to sew light colours first.

• Keep the Smallest stitch at 0.1 mm, and raise it when your machine breaks thread on tiny stitches.