InkStitch

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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/embroidery/inkstitch under Linux.

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