InkStitch

Draft

Introduction

Ink/Stitch is an Inkscape extension for designing machine embroidery patterns.

As far as we can tell without much testing (May 3 2018) this extension seems to be the first usable open source program that allows creating embroidery files from a drawing tool.

• You can stitch areas, columns and lines
• All can be parametrized, including some underlay.

Installation

This software was tested with Ubuntu 16x and Windows 10 on May 3 2018. We managed to get an embroidery file for both Linux and Windows.

• Download the latest release
• Gunzip in the personal extension folder of Inkscape.

Under Ubuntu

• Unzip to ~/.config/inkscape/extensions

cd ~/.config/inkscape/extensions
tar zxf ~/Downloads/inkstitch-v1.0.0-Linux-x86_64.tar.gz

Under Win 10

• Unhide the AppData directory (go to c:\users\__your_home__\, e.g. c:\users\janet
• Unzip in c:\users\__you__\AppData\Roaming\inkscape\extensions

If this does not work, check the extension folder in Inkscape: Edit->Preferences->System

Restart Inkscape.

Basic use

The following is just an initial test. We will have to explore more.

• Create a closed path, e.g. a circle. You can use both fill and stroke

• Transform that to a patch: Select the object, then Menu Path->Object to Path

• Select a drawing

• In menu Extensions -> Embroider -> Select Params and play with them. There are actually quite a lot compared to other SVG to embroidery translators.

• Once you are happy: Menu Extensions -> Embroider -> Embroidery
• Type a directory name where you can find your files, e.g. c:\users\__you__\Desktop on windows or /home/schneide/schneide/embroidery/inkstitch under Linux.

You now will have a new layer that includes the Stitch Plan, i.e. the objects that have been exported as Stitch objects.

Birds example

Below are notes taken while I learn. I am aware that these are not good enough for beginners - Daniel K. Schneider (talk) 16:23, 4 May 2018 (CEST)

Get some artwork

• Get four birds from the noun project (become a member if you want to download and reuse objects without having to use them under their free CC license. I got 4 birds from the Bird collection by Liv Iko
• Pick the ones you like. If you are a non-member, remove the text with the CC license, but make sure to cite the author properly if you publish your embroidery.

Arrange in position and break apart

• Arrange them on one line and also adjust the size so that will fit into you hoop
• Each of the birds is now a single path. These are not yet suitable for a nice colorful embroidery. We will have to break them apart
• Select all
• Menu: Path -> Break Apart

Colorize

The result are layered "path" objects composed of fills that you now should color a bit. For each object, including the large black backgrounds:

• Add a fill color
• Remove the stroke color
• The easiest way of doing this is to open the "Fill and Strokes" panel, then the XML Editor (Shift+Control+X) and click on each path

Simplify

Currently we have up to three layers, which is too much for stitching.

• We now use the difference operator to subtract an element from the element underneath.
• Copy an area and move it outside the graphic
• Shift-select a large (black) area and shift select a object that sits on top
• Menu: Path->Difference or hit CTRL+-
• Now you should see a hole in the bigger black area. Move the the save smaller area in place. Increase its size a bit so that it overlaps.

You also may want to cleanup a bit. In Inkscape, click on File->Clean up document

Layer

• Create a new layer and call it Areas
• Select all colored areas and move into a new layer
• Rename the layer with the black "lines" in "Lines"

Parametrize

• Hide Layer Lines and Open Extensions->Embroidery->Params
• Add STOP and TRIM if you got a multi-needle machine
• Change default values or just Apply and Quit (we did not change anything else here)

Links

• Ink/Stitch (home page)
• Ink/Stitch Githup directory
• Inkstitch Intro Video (Youtube)