Auto fabrics & densities

Embroidery stitches pull fabric inward where the needle penetrates. This can cause fabric to pucker, and gaps to appear. For an object to sew out correctly, it must have correct stitch spacing, sufficient pull compensation together with a suitable underlay for the combination of cover stitch type, object type, object shape and fabric. The software provides a set of optimized auto fabric settings so that it will take into account the type of fabric you are stitching on.


Use Customize Design > Auto Fabric to change the properties of the design for stitching on a different fabric.

Choose auto fabrics

Choose from a set of pre-defined auto fabrics aimed at minimizing stitching defects when designs are sewn out. These make the necessary changes to the system settings – e.g. ‘pull compensation’. The new settings can be applied to all applicable objects. Normally you choose an auto fabric when you first set up a design although you can change it at any stage. Go to the Customize Design toolbox and choose Auto Fabric...

Notice that the Auto Fabric dialog also provides recommended stabilizers according to the selected auto fabric. Stabilizer backings are woven or non-woven materials placed beneath the item or fabric being embroidered for stability and support. The more stitches a design has, the heavier the backing required. Backings are available in various weights and types such as cut-away, tear-away and wash-away (soluble). Professional embroiderers use tear-away stabilizers for woven fabrics and cut-away stabilizers for knits.

The auto fabric you choose here does not have a direct effect upon the design background nor vice versa. It's up to you to set the background fabric to match your chosen auto fabric. See also Backgrounds.


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Manage fabrics  

In addition to the pre-defined auto fabric settings, you can create custom fabric settings to suit particular needs. You can also modify, rename or delete any custom fabrics you create.

  • Select Software Settings > Manage Auto Fabrics. Most of the time, you will come to this dialog in order to edit auto fabric settings or create fabric variants.
  • To create a variant, select the base fabric and click Create.
  • Enter a descriptive name.
  • Click OK. The Fabric Settings dialog opens. This dialog lets you set auto fabric values for four object groups – Tatami/Embossed Fill, Wide Satin, Narrow Satin, and Lettering – as well as details of any recommended stabilizers.


Use Customize Design / Edit Objects > Adjust Stitch Spacing to manually override stitch densities of selected objects or entire designs.

Adjust stitch densities

You may need to change stitch density in order to stitch on a different fabric or with a different thread. Or you may want to do a test design and reduce the overall stitch count for efficient stitchout. The software lets you change the density of most stitch types across the whole or selected parts of a design.

To override current settings for the entire design, press <Ctrl + A> to select everything. Open the dialog and set a percentage adjustment - e.g. 200% to increase stitch spacing and thereby reduce overall density. Check the revised stitch count in the Status Bar. See also Object properties.

When manual spacing for a satin object is more than 0.66 mm, the Adjust Stitch Spacing function becomes unavailable. The software interprets the setting as larger than 'full cover' embroidery. Thus, effects such as shading cannot be accidentally modified.