Create a satin column

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. Click and drag instead of clicking to pull bezier handles for that rail segment, so the column can curve.
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 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).

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.

There is no Rungs panel any more

It had a Regenerate button that could not change anything, since the rungs it cleared are rebuilt from your shape every time. It was removed in v1.2.2.

Corners

A satin column that changes direction sharply has a choice about how to turn. Pick it 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 shape is read as its skeleton, split into parts at the junctions, and the ends are matched up under the shape's own symmetry. The result is real satin columns, so density, underlay, pull compensation and split length all apply per column, exactly as they would on a column you drew yourself.

It sews as one continuous walk. The columns are ordered so the travel between them runs underneath satin that has not been stitched yet, which means no jumps and no trims on any of the built-in shapes. 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.

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.

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.

Two options worth knowing:

• Closed loop stitches the column as a closed ring: the rails wrap end-to-start and the satin finishes at the exit seam. 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.

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.