What’s New in Bernina Embroidery Software v6
11.07.09
Stipple Fill
If you are a fan of stipple quilting, you may be very happy to know that you can now achieve perfect results with the new Stipple fill in Bernina Embroidery Software version 6!
Create a closed object, and from the Fill stitch dropdown list, select “Stipple Run”. In the diagrams below, I created two 6″x6″ squares. One has a single stitch outline to show the boundary of the stipple fill. The other contains the stipple fill!
The default settings are:
Stitch length = 2.5mm
Run Count = 1
Loop Spacing = 0.2 in
Inset Step = 1
Changing the Run Count does not make a visible difference in a screen print, but it does have a difference in the stitchout! Run Count can have values of 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9. A Run Count of 1 creates a single running stitch. A Run Count of 3 does “forward back forward” for each stitch. A Run Count of 5 does “forward back forward back forward” for each stitch. Etc!
In this example, the loop spacing has been set to 0.1 in. The stitch length has also been decreased to 2.0mm, to create a smoother line.
Setting loop spacing to 0.0 in creates a very tiny micro-stipple. The stitch length has also been decreased again, to 1mm. These stitches take a while to generate – so be patient after hitting Apply or OK!
This shows a 1″ square containing the tiny micto-stipple.
Inset Step defines the amount of space between the edge of the object and the stipple. In this example:
Stitch Length = 2mm
Loop Spacing = 0.2 in
Inset Step = 2.
Chances are you are not going to have a space that contains only Stipple fill! How about using it to quilt the area surrounding a design? In this example, I inserted a design from my Hearts CD over the top of the square containing the Stipple fill. Unfortunately, the Stipple fill is showing through the open spaces in the design.
What you really want to do is remove the stitches from underneath the heart. But the “Remove Overlaps” button is not active.
The easiest way to activate the “Remove Overlaps” button is to create an object containing a Step fill.
I ungrouped the Heart design (when you insert a design, all the elements of it will be grouped together), selected the Candlewicking stitch outline for the heart and changed it to a Step fill. Now if you select the Step filled heart the “Remove Overlaps” button is active – so click on it!
When you delete the Step filled heart you will fine that the Remove Overlaps has taken away all stitches underneath, including the rest of the heart. The easiest way to solve this problem is to re-insert the heart design.
In this example:
Loop Spacing = 0.1 in
Inset Step = 3
As well as Stipple Run, you will also see Stipple Stemstitch and Stipple Backstitch on the fill stitch list. This example shows Stipple Stemstitch with the default settings, Loop Spacing = 0.2 in and Inset Step = 1.
Stipple Stemstitch has a much smoother line if you increase the Loop Count. In this example it has been increased to 0.4 in.
Stipple Backstitch looks very similar to Stipple Run, but when stitched out will give a nicely defined line – great if you want to give your quilting some more definition!
Outline Design is found as the 3rd button up from the bottom on the Digitize toolbar. It’s only active if you have an existing object selected!
Create a new design, or insert an existing design into a new embroidery file. I have chosen to use “Motif 1 Small” from my Heather Feather CD, rotated by 45 degrees clockwise, with the positioning square removed. I placed the design in a jumbo hoop so that there is plenty of space to play with around the design!
A satin stitch border has been added, and then everything was selected before applying Outline Design with:
Look what happens when you check Outline Holes!
In this example, I applied Outline Design twice to the original design. Make sure to group the whole design, including the border, to make it easy to select everything for the second application of Outline Design.
This summer has been my time to fall in love with silk! It has also been my time to fall in love with using cotton thread for embroidered applique, specifically Aurifil Cotton Mako. This is not a “normal” choice for embroidery, so up until now, there has not been a thread chart available for it in the Bernina Embroidery Software. Now there is!
what can we do with the Morphing Effect tool?
Creating a star is easy! Click on the Star tool. Click and drag to create a star. Holding down the Ctrl key while clicking and dragging will create a symmetrical star. Holding down the Shift key while clicking and dragging will create a star that expands from the center. Holding down both Ctrl + Shift while clicking and dragging will create a symmetrical star that expands from the center.
Select the star and you can change the number of points. You can also change the sharpness of the points – to make them short and fat or long and slim.
Having created some shapes, you can now select one or all of them and “Convert to Embroidery” at the touch of a button! A simple outlined shape will create the same shape as an embroidery object, with a single running stitch outline.
Start out with a filled object. Satin fill works for smaller obects, but you will run into problems if your stitch length gets too long. Step fill has dozens of variations and can give you all sorts of different effects. The example on the left is the default step pattern #1 with default stitch spacing and length.
Version 6 comes with lots of embroidery samples, many of which make great stamps. On the right is part of one of the floral samples, basic stamps on the top row, raised stamps on the bottom row.
