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Create a satin column

Use a satin column for borders, lettering strokes and any narrow shape you want to look smooth and glossy. You end with a column you can reshape by its rails, with spacing and underlay already set for its width.

A satin column lays a dense zig-zag of stitches across the width between two parallel "rails." It's the go-to for borders and lettering.

  1. Select the Satin column tool in the Editor group of the tool rail. (It has no keyboard shortcut.)
  2. Click to place anchors. The tool alternates sides automatically: your first click starts the left rail, the next click the right rail, the next the left again, and so on. This builds the two rails together.
  3. Right-click instead of clicking to place a curve point on that rail: Boldbobbin bends the rail smoothly through it, so you don't pull any handles. (On a Mac trackpad, a two-finger click.) Or click and drag to pull bezier handles for that rail segment yourself.
  4. You need at least 2 anchors on each rail. If you try to finish with fewer, Boldbobbin warns: "Satin needs ≥ 2 anchors on each rail."
  5. Press Enter or click ✓ on the bar under the canvas to commit, or Esc to cancel. To close the column into a loop instead, click back on the first anchor you placed (Boldbobbin hints this once you have enough anchors to close); right-click it to close both rails through a curve.
Right-click no longer finishes a satin

As of v1.3.3, a right-click places a curve point. If you used to finish a column with a right-click, press Enter or click ✓ instead. The hint over the canvas says so: "Satin: click to alternate rails · Enter to commit · right-click for a curve point".

On an iPad or with a pen, where there is no right button, turn on Curve points on the bar under the canvas: every tap then places a curve point, and Shift places a corner. See Corners and curves.

Example: a curved 5 mm banner under a name on a T-shirt
  1. Set the header's Fabric to Knit / Jersey first, so the column starts with the pull compensation a knit needs.
  2. Pick the Satin column tool. Click a point on the top edge of the banner, then a point about 5 mm below it on the bottom edge. Carry on along the banner, alternating top and bottom.
  3. Right-click instead of clicking where the banner bends, so the rails curve through those points.
  4. Press Enter. Leave Spacing and Underlay on By width: at 5 mm the column gets a contour walk under it.

Rungs​

The cross-bars that pair the two rails into stitch positions are called rungs. By default they follow the rail vertices. In node-edit you can add or remove rungs to control how the satin twists across a curve: for example, add a rung where the stitches lean too far on a tight bend.

There is no Rungs panel any more

Its Regenerate button never changed your stitches, so the panel was removed in v1.2.2. Edit rungs in node-edit, as above.

Corners​

To keep a sharp turn in a satin column from thinning out or bunching, pick how it turns from the Corner control, which shows five small drawings of what each method does: None, Miter, Cap, Overlap, and Round. Boldbobbin only applies one where there is a real corner to turn, so a gentle curve is never "cornered". See Corner methods.

Inner satin​

A closed shape can be filled with satin two different ways. With the shape selected and Satin chosen, a Satin placement control offers:

  • Contour: satin along the outline, as wide as Width. A ring of satin around the shape's border.
  • Inner: Boldbobbin reads the shape's interior as real satin columns. A star becomes five arms and a hub; a disc becomes one column across its diameter.

Inner satin finds the columns for you. The result is real satin columns, so density, underlay, pull compensation and split length all apply per column.

As of v1.3.2, inner satin starts from settings of its own, because its columns can be much wider than a column you draw:

  • Long stitches are split by default: Max stitch length is 7 mm and Split method is Staggered (a drawn column starts with the Default split method).
  • Density stays even around curves: a curving column is neither sparse on the outside of the bend nor piled up on the inside.

It also reads more shapes than it used to:

  • Shapes with holes work: a donut is sewn round its ring rather than straight across the hole.
  • A plain ring becomes one closed column, sewn without a seam. A square frame keeps separate columns along its sides. As of v1.4.0 a ring gets the underlay its width calls for, so thread no longer piles up where the ring starts and ends.
  • A sharp inner corner gets a miter, and the straight side of a rounded rectangle becomes a flat end. As of v1.4.0 the miter is there even when the outside of the turn is rounded, as on the corners of a traced letter E or L, so the stitches no longer fan round the corner.

Wide parts are sewn as tatami​

New in v1.4.0: any part of an inner satin wider than 10 mm is sewn as tatami, with the satin parts around it still sewn as satin. Satin that wide would sew long, loose stitches; a fill lies flatter and wears better. The tatami reaches a little under the satin beside it, so no fabric shows where they meet, and its rows run the way the satin stitches would. A plain ring stays satin at any width.

For example, an L whose upright is 6 mm wide and whose foot is 14 mm thick sews its upright as satin and its foot as tatami, in one object.

Existing designs can sew differently

An inner satin from an earlier version that is wider than 10 mm somewhere now sews those parts as tatami, and a closed inner-satin ring gets new underlay. Check the stitches and the stitch count before you sew an older design again.

It sews as one continuous walk, with the moves between columns covered by the satin, so the built-in shapes sew with no jumps and no trims. Your entry and exit points are the walk's start and end.

Part overlap (mm) is how far each column reaches into the columns it touches, so the pull of the stitches can't open a gap between parts. It never reaches past the outline.

The shape stays a shape: resize the star or change its point count and the columns follow.

Inner satin is free, on any plan.

Example: a 20 mm satin star
  1. Draw a 20 mm, five-point star with the Star tool. It starts as a tatami fill.
  2. Set the fill type to Satin, then Satin placement to Inner. The star becomes five satin arms meeting at a hub.
  3. If you see a thin gap where two arms meet after sewing, raise Part overlap a little.

Convert it to columns you can edit​

Convert to… → Satin columns replaces the shape with a folder of real satin columns and running Travel objects, in the order they sew, so you can hand-edit any rail. Like every Convert, it is one-way: undo is how you get the parametric shape back. A ring stays one closed loop when converted. The converted columns are ordinary satin columns, so they no longer get inner satin's even density around curves.

Adjust the satin​

Select the column and use the Properties panel, or the essentials bar, to set spacing, pull compensation, corners, underlay, and more. For a narrow column the width comes from the rungs ("set by rails"): edit the rungs to change it. See the full list in Stitch parameters.

As of v1.3.2 a new column starts from recommended settings:

  • Spacing: By width, which spaces each part of the column for how wide it is there, scaled by Spacing scale (100%). Choose Fixed for one spacing everywhere.
  • Underlay: By width, which picks the underlay passes from the column's width. Choose Manual to tick Center walk, Contour walk, and Zigzag underlay yourself.
  • Stitch: Satin. Zigzag, E stitch, Square, and Contour are the other ways to sew a column. See Stitch styles.

Picking E stitch or Square opens a dense column's spacing to a fixed 1.5 mm, since those stitches are sewn open. As of v1.3.3, going back to Satin or Zigzag puts the spacing back By width, so the column comes back dense rather than staying open.

A satin from an earlier version keeps its spacing. One that had no underlay ticked now gets underlay by width; see Satin underlay.

Two options worth knowing:

  • Closed loop stitches the column as a closed ring, finishing where it started. Use it for rings and closed outlines. Turn it on after the fact here, or close the loop while drawing (step 5 above).
  • Seam overlap (mm) (in the Satin Advanced panel) sets how far the finish overlaps the start so a closed seam doesn't gap.

Turn a shape into satin​

You can also select a single vector and use Convert to… → Satin column in the floating action bar. Boldbobbin confirms "Converted to satin column." (If it can't compute rails for the shape, it tells you so.)

This works two ways:

  • A closed outline (3 points or more) becomes a column that follows its border.
  • An open path drawn with the Pen or Freehand acts as a centerline: the column is built outward from the line you drew, so you can sketch a stroke and turn it into satin. Two points is enough. Its Ends can be Flat, Round, or Square (new in v1.3.2; see Satin ends).

Cut a column into pieces​

The Cutter (K) divides a satin column across its width into shorter columns, each still a real column with its rungs rebuilt. Cutting a closed column once opens it into a single strip rather than splitting it in two.

It can also cut down the middle of the ribbon, dividing one column into two narrower ones along its length.