Stitch parameters
These are the settings the Properties panel shows for each fill type. Defaults are the app's starting values; the active Fabric preset can adjust some seeds. "Advanced" sections are hidden behind a disclosure.
Units are listed here in parentheses for clarity. On screen the unit sits right after the number in the field ("15°"), in both the Properties panel and the essentials bar.
Every fill parameter has a (?) explainer beside it, in plain language. The Properties panel folds section by section, and each essentials-bar popover has its own Reset, which clears just that popover's settings rather than everything. A reset survives a save.
Running stitch
| Setting | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Stitch length (mm) | 2.5 | Min 0.1 |
| Bean passes | 1 | How many times the thread retraces each stitch. Odd number; 3 = triple (bean) stitch |
| Passes | 1 | How many times the whole line is sewn, each lap running back over the last |
Bean passes and Passes are different knobs and they compose. A bean is structurally locked to an odd count, because it has to finish at the far end of its own step for the run to advance. Only Passes can express an even number of laps, so only Passes can end a line where it started: set it to 2 and the thread comes back.
Advanced: Tolerance (mm) 0.2, Min corner angle (°) 45, Randomize stitch
placement off (with Random seed 0, Random sigma 0.3).
Tatami fill
| Setting | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Angle (°) | 15 | Direction of the fill rows |
| Row spacing (mm) | 0.25 | Smaller = denser |
| Stitch length (mm) | 4.0 | |
| Staggers | 4 | Row-to-row offset of stitch ends |
| Pull compensation | 0 | Outsets the fill so it lands at the intended edge after the fabric pulls in while stitching. Higher expands more, 0 is off. Can't go below 0 |
| Edge-walk underlay | on | Adds a stabilizing underlay |
| Pattern | none | Tiles a motif through the fill. See Add a pattern to a fill |
Next to Angle is a picker that lets you draw the angle instead of typing it: click it, drag a line across the canvas, and the rows run the way you drew it. Hold Shift for 15° steps, Esc to back out.
Underlay (when on): the sub-fields sit indented under the checkbox and are
named plainly there: Row spacing ~0.75, Stitch length ~4.0, Inset 0 (mm).
Advanced: End row spacing (mm), Directional pull (mm) 0 and
Directional pull (%) 0, Skip last stitch per row off, Travel through
interior (main) off, Underlay skip last stitch off, Travel through interior
(underlay) on.
The two Directional pull knobs are a physically-aware companion to Pull compensation above: instead of growing every edge equally, they grow the fill only where the rows end (the direction the fabric pulls in as it stitches), in a fixed millimetre amount and/or as a percentage of each row's length. Edges parallel to the rows stay put. Unlike the plain Pull compensation fields, these two are signed: positive expands, negative insets, 0 is off.
Satin column
| Setting | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Width (mm) | 3.0 | For rail-based satin, width is "set by rails": edit the rungs |
| Spacing (mm) | 0.4 | |
| Pull compensation (mm) | 0 | Can't go below 0 |
| Max stitch length (mm) | 10 | |
| Short-stitch inset (mm) | 0 | |
| Split method | Default | Default / Simple / Staggered |
| Corner | Miter | How the column turns a sharp corner. See Corner methods |
| Satin placement | Contour | Contour or Inner, on a closed shape. See Inner satin |
| Part overlap (mm) | 0.3 | Inner satin only: how far each column reaches into the columns it touches, so the pull of the stitches can't open a gap between parts. Never past the outline |
| Clamp width to curvature | off | |
| Closed loop | off | Stitch the column as a closed ring |
| Render as zigzag | off |
Advanced: Min stitch length (mm) 1.0, Short-stitch distance (mm) 0.25,
Lead-in/out length (mm) 2.5, Seam overlap (mm), Split staggers 4, Pull comp
(%) 0 (0 or more), Randomize splits off (Random seed 0, Split jitter 0).
Underlay (each off by default, with its own sub-settings):
- Center walk: Center spacing (mm)
2.5, Center repeats2. A single line of running stitch down the centre of the column, to anchor it before the satin. - Contour walk: Contour spacing (mm)
2.5, Contour inset (mm)0.4. - Zigzag underlay: Zigzag spacing (mm)
0.8, Zigzag inset (mm)0.3.
Corner methods
How a satin column negotiates a sharp corner is a real engine setting: it changes how the stitches are laid where the column changes direction. You pick it from five small drawings of what each one does, rather than a list of words, because "Lap" and "Cap" are hard to tell apart as words and obvious as pictures.
| Method | What it does |
|---|---|
| None | The column just turns, nothing added. |
| Miter | The bisector splits the corner, tip to tip. |
| Cap | A cut line straight across the corner. |
| Overlap | The outgoing column's leading edge reaches back over the incoming one, so the corner never thins. |
| Round | The outer edge arcs around the vertex; the inner notch stays sharp. The arc spreads along the inner rail rather than pivoting on a point, which is what stops the outer edge bunching. |
A method only applies where there is a real corner. Boldbobbin measures the turn and the distance to the surrounding points, so a gentle curve is left alone instead of having a corner treatment forced onto it.
New satin columns start at Miter. Hearts default to Overlap, because the cusps at the top are near-hairpin turns rather than the soft V they look like. Picking Satin on a shape you already drew mitres its corners too, so a rectangle you drew as tatami and switched to satin matches one you drew as satin.
A three-way Corner style (Miter / Bevel / Round) used to sit here. Old files still render unchanged, but the setting is no longer offered or written.
Ties (lock stitches)
Ties are the small back-and-forth stitches that anchor the thread so the first and last stitches can't pull back out. They are part of the design: drawn on the canvas, counted in the stitch total, included in the preview and the animator, and written into every file you export.
Every object carries its own ties, because whether an end needs tying depends on what the thread does around that object. Edit them in the Properties panel's Ties section, or from the essentials bar. A multi-selection shows Mixed where the selection disagrees.
Tie in and Tie off are set separately, each with a Mode:
| Mode | When it anchors |
|---|---|
| Never | Not even where the thread is cut. Choose this when you add your own anchors by hand. |
| At a cut | Only where the thread is actually cut: a trim, a color change, and the start and end of the design. |
| After a long travel | At cuts, and whenever the travel to or from this object is longer than Travel over (mm). A long travel is what risks dragging the thread out. |
| Always | At cuts and at every object boundary, whatever the thread does in between. The safest and the heaviest. |
Plus:
- Reach (mm): how far the anchor reaches toward the neighbouring stitch. Shorter is more discreet, longer holds better on loose fabric.
- Backtracks: how many times the needle goes out and back. Each backtrack adds two stitches.
What a newly drawn object starts with is set in Settings → Parameters. Changing it never touches an object you already made.
Ties used to be two checkboxes on the Export dialog, applied to the file at the last moment: nothing on screen showed them, and the design's stitch count was a different number from what the machine ran. They became a design property in v1.2.3. Your existing designs stitch out exactly the same. Those stitches were always going into the machine file; the count on screen finally matches them.
Entry and exit
Tatami and satin objects have Entry and Exit points that set where the first and last stitches land (in world millimetres), which is how you steer the travel between objects. Use Reset to auto to let Boldbobbin place them, or the auto-optimize button to have it pick sensible ones for you. An explainer sits beside the section, and it folds away in Properties.
Digitized text
Text set in a digitized font doesn't show a Fill type: how it stitches comes from the font. Instead you get a Digitization section:
| Setting | Notes |
|---|---|
| Range | Which of the font's size ranges the text is stitched from. Selectable when the font offers more than one |
| Connections | What the machine does between the strokes of a word: Automatic (sews gaps under 3 mm, jumps up to 10 mm, trims beyond), Always sew, Always jump, or Always trim |
The stitch sections below it are grouped by what the lettering actually contains (so many columns, regions, or paths) and can be folded away. Text has no Entry/Exit fields: a single pair of points across a whole word wouldn't mean anything.
The Rungs panel is gone
A Rungs panel used to sit in the satin section with a Regenerate button. It was removed in v1.2.2, because the button could not change anything: the rungs it cleared are rebuilt from your shape every time, so it did nothing to your stitches and left the object in a state the app treats as invalid. Nothing you could do in it is lost. You still edit rungs directly in node-edit.
Setting satin defaults for new columns
When the Satin column tool is active and nothing is selected, the Properties panel shows Satin tool defaults: these seed new satin columns and don't change ones you've already drawn.