TruEmbroidery™ 3 Software Newsletter October 2015

Welcome to the TruEmbroidery™ 3 newsletter. This month we will share with you how to use the Background feature in Studio and how to make your own free-standing lace in Create.

Icons

The Background tools are in the TruE™ 3 and TruE™ Studio and the TruE™ 3 and TruE™ Create applications. In Studio, you preview your design on the actual fabric, quilt, or garment before stitching. In Create you use the picture background to digitize the design.

This month we will explore how Loading a Previously Save Background works in Studio. Once loaded, we will look at how to move it around behind your embroidery. There is an assistant to help you load a previously saved background or to bring in a new background. You can also move the background and fade its appearance.

When you add a new background to your collection, you provide a measurement so that it can be matched to the size of your embroideries. The garment, quilt block and fabric backgrounds supplied with TruE™ 3 and TruE™ Studio have already been set to real size. There are 2400+ garment, fabric and quilt block backgrounds included!

Click on Load Background to start the Background Assistant. Select whether to Load a Previously Saved Background or to Add a New Background. Let's look at how to load a Previously Saved Background.

On the next screen you will select the background in a window that looks like the Finder. Choose whatever method you like to search. The column view is shown here. The design will be stitched out on an apron. The Garments folder has an Aprons folder with many colors to choose from. Once you choose the color apron for your design it will appear, in real size behind your hoop.

Select Move Background and a four-headed arrow pointer will appear. Click and drag to position the background behind the hoop where you want the embroidery to stitch. Pictured is a really cute design, from the Holidays Sample folder, just in time for Halloween. Control-click, then select Finish Move Background to lock it in position. Select Realistic View to see your embroidery and background without the hoop.

Tips and Techniques

You can easily create lace in either the TruE™ 3 or TruE™ Create application with the crosshatch fill. Crosshatch fills are used in quilting too. This month we will look at how to create free-standing lace with the many different capabilities of this tool.

The Crosshatch Fill Options enable you to set the Spacing, Style, line angle, stitch type and stitch length for the crosshatched lines of stitching in the fill. The preview changes according to the options chosen.

The Style option lets you choose from Diamond, Square, Parallel and Enter Angles. Diamond is selected by default, and creates a symmetrical crosshatch pattern (balanced horizontally). Choose Enter Angles to create an asymmetrical crosshatch pattern, if desired.

The Spacing option lets you set the Gap to the preferred distance between lines of stitching. Set the Gap from 5mm to 20mm in steps of 1mm.

Select a stitch type for the crosshatch fill. Choose from Running Stitch, Double Stitch, Double with Zigzag Return, and Triple Stitch. Set the Stitch Length from 1 to 6mm in steps of 0.1mm. The initial setting is 2mm.

Double with Zigzag Return is a special stitch type, recommended for lace. Set the Zigzag Width from 0.1 to 12mm in steps of 0.1mm. The initial setting is 0.6mm, which is perfect for lace. Set the Spacing to 2mm. A running stitch line is retraced in a zigzag pattern to create a mesh. After embroidering on water-soluble stabilizer, the mesh of stitches provides strength when the stabilizer is washed away.

To create a quick lace design, try choosing from the 75 shapes available (50 shapes in TruE™ Create). In the Control Panel set the Fill to Crosshatch and the border to satin. Click on the Options button, as mentioned above, setting the options as described in the previous paragraph. Pictured is shape 65 using the Shape as Fill tool then resized. Now wasn't that easy! Shape 34 in TruE™ Create produces a similar effect.

Add decoration on top or leave as is for a cute doily or insert into a dresser scarf adding the cutwork needle feature before the crosshatch fill. In the design at the beginning of this section, Candlewicking stitches were added using the Shape as Line tool then sized to fit. Tip: Don't forget to uncheck remove overlap when you Export the design as you want the decoration to stitch on top of the lace.

Best wishes from TruEmbroidery™ 3 Software

P.S. Watch for the TruEmbroidery™ newsletter next month when we will look at the Actions feature in each Application and how the Shape tool works in Create.