Cut & fill holes

The software provides special tools for cutting holes in objects, removing underlying stitching, as well as filling holes. Use them to prevent a build-up of stitches, eliminate areas of unwanted stitching, or create new objects based on the holes in a source object.

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Use Edit Objects > Remove Overlaps to remove stitches that are covered by the selected objects. Overlap value can be changed in the Overlap tab of Embroidery Settings dialog.

Remove underlying stitching

Use the Remove Overlaps tool to remove underlying layers of stitching in overlapping objects. This helps to reduce the stitch count and prevent a build-up of stitches where they are not needed. To remove underlying stitching:

Select one or more ‘cutters’.
Click the Remove Overlaps tool.
The stitching overlap is removed. A margin of overlap is automatically calculated between cutter and underlying object/s in order to avoid unsightly gaps.
- Note that you can control the overlap margin via the Embroidery Settings > Overlap tab which can be accessed via the Software Settings menu. Softer fabrics may require more overlap to prevent gaps from forming.

You can use an entire design as a cutter excluding objects, such as borders or details, less than a certain width.

Use Digitize > Digitize Holes to digitize holes in a selected filled object.

Use Digitize > Remove Holes to remove holes from a selected object.

Digitize holes in objects

Use the Digitize Holes tool to cut holes in objects to eliminate areas of unwanted stitching or for effect. To digitize holes in objects:

Select any closed object in which you want to cut a hole.
Select the Digitize Holes tool and digitize the shape you want to cut.
Press <Enter> twice to remove stitches from the digitized area.
Use the Remove Holes tool to restore any objects with holes.

Use Digitize > Fill Holes to fill holes via creating new objects based on the hole boundaries of selected object with the current fill stitch type. Right-click for settings.

Fill holes in objects

The Fill Holes function does the opposite as Digitize Holes. Use the tool to fill holes in closed objects by creating new objects based on the existing holes.

Select the source object.
Click the tool. You are prompted to enter an overlap or underlap margin:
Normally, you would choose to overlap generated objects to avoid gaps. But sometimes you may want to deliberately create an underlap as shown.
To cover holes exactly, enter a value of 0.00.
To overlap the filled holes and the original object, enter a positive offset – e.g. 1.00. Overlapping the objects prevents gaps appearing.
To leave a gap between the filled holes and the original object, enter a negative offset – e.g. -1.00.
Hole boundaries are converted to closed objects with the same fill stitch settings, stitch angle, stitch effects and thread color as the source object. Edit as necessary.
Note that you can control the overlap margin via the Embroidery Settings > Overlap tab which can be accessed via the Software Settings menu. Softer fabrics may require more overlap to prevent gaps from forming.

Use Digitize / Edit Objects > Weld to merge selected overlapping objects into a single 'flattened' object.

Combine objects

Digitizers often want to combine or 'weld' objects into a single object. Also when opening stitch files which have been broken into multiple objects, you sometimes want to merge these back together. The technique can also help with auto-digitized designs. Simply select the objects you want to merge, and click the Weld tool.