Add a pattern to a fill
Add a fill pattern when you want a large one-color area to show texture, such as hearts, a honeycomb, or waves, without changing thread. The motif shows as a relief in the stitching rather than as a change of color.
A fill pattern tiles a motif across a tatami fill. The rows still cover the whole shape: the pattern is a setting of the tatami fill, not a separate stitch type.
You can design with a pattern and see it on screen on any plan. Exporting or publishing a design that still carries one needs Pro, the same way Photostitch and Auto-Trace work. See Plans and credits.
Add one
- Select a shape with a Tatami fill (and its Fill set to Tatami: a stipple, spiral, or other decorative fill has no rows for a pattern to work on).
- Open Pattern (in the Properties panel, or the essentials bar's fill settings).
- Pick a motif. As of v1.3.2 there are 22, in three groups:
| Group | Motifs |
|---|---|
| Lines | Chevron, Zigzag, Wave, Columns, Heartbeat |
| Motifs | Heart, Diamond, Triangle, Circle, Staircase, Spiral, Rainfall, Brick, Basket weave, Star |
| Tessellations | Honeycomb, Clamshell, Chain, Lattice, Seigaiha, Herringbone, Ogee |
Brick, Basket weave, Star, Clamshell, Chain, Lattice, Seigaiha, Herringbone, and Ogee are new in v1.3.2, and Triangle was redrawn. Tornado was retired: a design that used it now sews a plain fill there, so pick another motif. (Spool is no longer offered, but a design that already uses it still sews it.)
Default puts it back (the tile was called No pattern before v1.3.3).
Switching from one motif to another keeps your tuning: if you made a heart half again as big as it starts, the honeycomb you switch to is also half again as big as it starts, instead of resetting.
- Select the square (a tatami fill with Fill: Tatami) and open Pattern.
- Pick Honeycomb. It is a closed motif, so Relief turns on with a Float length of 7 mm and the cells stand proud of the fabric.
- If Boldbobbin warns that too few rows cross the motif, raise Motif size.
- If the cells land off-center, slide them with Shift across and Shift down.
Exporting it needs Pro.
The settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Motif size | How big one motif is. The gap stays where it is, so a smaller motif leaves more air rather than crowding closer. Make it bigger when the motif's shape gets lost in the rows. |
| Motif gap | The space between motifs, across and down. 0 means they touch. Widen it for a sparser, scattered look. |
| Shift across / down | Slides the whole tiling against the shape, so a motif lands where you want it in the patch rather than wherever the design origin puts it. 100% is one full tile, which brings you back where you started. |
| Tiling angle | Turns the motif without turning the stitch rows. Use it when part of a motif has gone parallel to the rows and stopped showing. |
| Relief | Stops the needle coming down inside the motif, so the shape stands proud of the fabric. Turn it off for a flatter, subtler texture. |
| Float length | Only with Relief: how long a stitch may be inside the motif. Longer floats lift more; shorter than the fill's own stitch length sinks the shape instead. Long floats can snag on a garment that is worn and washed often. |
Size and gap are two independent millimeter values. Making a motif smaller no longer drags its spacing along with it.
Shift is off by default and shown only where it does something.
What picking a motif sets for you
As of v1.3.2, a motif starts at the settings that make it read, rather than at blank defaults:
- Each motif has its own starting size (Triangle 4.4 mm, Heart 7 mm, Seigaiha 13 mm, and so on), and some start turned: Triangle at 39°, Brick and Basket weave at 30°.
- A closed motif (Heart, Diamond, Triangle, Circle, Honeycomb, Brick, Chain, Lattice, Star, Ogee) turns Relief on, with a Float length of 7 mm.
- An open motif raises the fill's Stitch length from 4 to 7 mm, so the rows have room to bend; going back to Default puts it back to 4.
The quiet background
Under a motif, the fill's needle holes are scattered at a Random factor of 50%, unless you set your own, so the motif stands out from the diagonal lines a plain tatami makes. Set Random factor to 0 in the tatami's Advanced settings for the plain fill underneath. A design made before v1.3.2 gets the background too when you reopen it.
When Boldbobbin warns you
- "Too few rows cross this motif for its shape to hold." Make it bigger, or bring the row spacing down.
- "This motif runs along the stitch rows, so almost none of it will show." Change the tiling angle, or the fill angle.
- "This float is shorter than the motif is wide, so the needle still comes down inside it." Lengthen the float, or make the motif bigger.
Draw the fill angle
Which way the rows run decides how a pattern reads, and you can draw that angle instead of typing it. Next to the Angle field is a picker button: click it, then drag a line across the canvas and the rows run the way you drew it. Hold Shift for 15° steps, Esc to back out.