Placing, Spacing and Sizing Lettering

Overview

These settings decide exactly where a field's lettering sits in the hoop, how it is spaced, and how its stitches are made. They are in the design editor's sidebar for the selected field. For what a field asks customers for, see Fields and customer rules.

Placement

The Placement panel places the selected field precisely:

• X and Y — where the middle of the field box sits, in mm from the middle of the hoop (right and down are positive). 0, 0 is dead centre.
• W and H — the field box size in mm. Changing a size keeps the box centred where it was.
• Rotation — in degrees (-180 to 180).
• Centre horizontally / Centre vertically — centre the box in the hoop.
• Snapping — while you drag a field on the canvas, its edges and middle snap to the hoop's centre lines and to the other fields' edges and middles; a guide line shows what it snapped to. Resizing snaps too: while you drag the corner handle, the right and bottom edges snap to the same lines (with the same guide line), so a box can end exactly on the hoop's centre or line up with another field. Snapping kicks in within a few pixels on screen, so zoom in for finer control.
• Arrow keys — with a field selected (and no box being typed in), the arrow keys nudge it 1 mm; hold Shift for 10 mm.
• Duplicate field — adds a copy 5 mm below and to the right of the original and selects it, with every setting copied (the customer position lock too), the label (copy) added and a new key (for example name-copy, then name-copy-2), so keys never clash. If 5 mm down and right would push the copy outside the stitch area (the dashed outline, oval or rectangle; rotated fields count by their rotated shape), it goes in the nearest free spot inside the stitch area that doesn't cover another field; if the stitch area is too full for that, it goes as close to that spot as it can while staying inside, and you can move it from there.
• Customers can't move or resize this — locks the field where you put it: the kiosk shows no move handle for it, and the saved order keeps your position even if a changed position is sent.

Spacing

Letter Spacing, Word Spacing and Line Height fine-tune the space between characters, words and lines of the selected field. Line Height is a multiple of the font's own line spacing: 1 sews the lines as close as the font's tallest letters and deepest descenders allow without touching, 1.15 (the default) a little more open. Alignment places the lettering in its box (left, centre or right) and lines up several lines the same way.

Customers can also move a field or a single letter on the kiosk, unless you lock the field (see Placement and The preview, the hoop and moving lettering).

Lettering

The Lettering panel has settings for the selected field's stitches:

• Mirror (flip left to right) — sews the lettering flipped, for example to read through a see-through item. The preview, the proof and the stitch file are all flipped.
• Satin density — the space between satin stitches (0.30–0.80 mm; the font default is 0.45 mm). Smaller is denser and uses more stitches.
• Pull compensation — widens each satin column on both sides (0–0.50 mm), for fabrics that pull stitches in.
• Underlay — Font default, None, Edge run, Zigzag or Edge run + zigzag.
• Reset to font default — puts all three back to the font's own settings.

The shop's BX fonts are vector outlines that ThreadReady sews itself, so these settings change the real stitches in the preview, the stitch count (and any stitch-count pricing) and the stitch file. Fonts digitized as foam lettering keep their own underlay. Fields you don't change sew exactly as before.

All of these settings are saved with the design.

Envelopes (arch, bulge, pinch, perspective)

Pick an Envelope (next to Style) to bend a text field's whole lettering: Arch top (the top rises on an arc, the baseline stays straight), Arch bottom (the bottom sags on an arc), Bulge (the middle grows), Pinch (the middle shrinks) or Perspective (the top is narrower than the baseline). Amount sets how strong it is.

• The letters are bent, then re-sewn. Each letter's outlines are bent and the letter is stitched again for its new shape, so stitches keep the font's length and density. Simply stretching finished stitches would leave long, loose stitches where letters grow and pile stitches where they shrink.
• Amount 100% is the strongest that still sews well. Each envelope is limited to the strongest bend that keeps every letter of ThreadReady Sans and Script within the font's stitch length and within 15% of its flat density, so Pinch and Perspective are gentler than Arch and Bulge. A very short word (or one letter) is also bent less, so its edges never get steeper than about 63°.
• No piled-up stitches. Where bending narrows a stroke, stitches shorter than 0.3 mm are left out (two needle holes almost on top of each other break thread), and the densest spots stay within 20% of the flat lettering.
• Envelope or Style, not both. Picking an envelope sets Style back to Normal, and picking a Style clears the envelope. Envelopes aren't offered for circle text, Vertical or monograms.
• Digitizer fonts only. Only fonts made of outlines can be bent. A fixed-size (stitch-type) font sews flat, and the editor says so. If any size of the field's font is a stitch-type file, the envelope isn't offered and the lettering sews flat at every size (otherwise a name would bend or not depending on which size its length picks). Accented letters (É, Ñ) bend too, even on their own.
• Works with letter colours and letter height. A field re-sewn at a letter height is bent at that height, and per-letter colours stay on their letters.
• Small letters can bend less than you set. Below the font's own size, the small-lettering checks (stroke width, open counters, letter shape) run on the bent name. If a bend fails a check the flat name passes, it sews at 75%, 50% or 25% of your amount, or flat if none of those pass. Each name is judged on its own, so the kiosk, the approved snapshot and the stitch file agree, and the editor tells you when it happens. A strong Pinch or Perspective near the font's smallest size is the usual case.
• The kiosk sews your envelope. Customers see the bent name in the preview and it is what the stitch file sews. Unless you let them choose (below), they can't change or remove it. Bending re-stitches every letter, so while a customer types the kiosk keeps the last preview up and redraws it once they pause (about a third of a second); they can't approve the order until it has.
• Letting customers choose is off by default. Under Customers can choose, tick the shapes they may pick and set Their amount. The kiosk then shows a Shape choice with those shapes, your own envelope if you set one, and No bend. Nothing is ticked until you tick it, because bends haven't been checked on a machine: sew each shape at your amount before offering it. The pick is saved with the customer's design and order, so changing the list later doesn't change a saved design. A pick is priced the way any design is: stitch-count pricing counts the stitches the bent name sews.
• Unverified until a stitch-out. Bent lettering has been checked by the engine's own measurements, not yet on a machine. Sew a test before relying on strong bends.

Fields without an envelope sew exactly as before.

Small lettering

Give a text field a Letter height to sew small names such as left-chest lettering (0.25–0.5 in).

• Re-sewn, not shrunk. Fonts made of outlines (Embrilliance Digitizer fonts, such as ThreadReady Sans and Script) are re-sewn at the height you set: the stitches are made for that size, with underlay chosen by each stroke's width, a little pull compensation, and no stitches too short to sew. Shrinking finished stitches instead packs them two to four times too dense. When the text doesn't fit the box, the field is re-sewn smaller until it does.
• Thin strokes are widened. Below a font's own size, satin strokes thinner than about 1.4 mm are made wider about their centre line, up to 0.3 mm a side, without closing the holes in letters such as a e g o or crowding the stroke next to them. A stroke still too thin for satin (a script's hairline entry or exit) is sewn as a triple run instead.
• Each font has a smallest size. Thin strokes can't hold a satin stitch below a certain size, so each font has a smallest height it can sew, worked out from its stitches. ThreadReady Sans sews down to about 0.31 in (8 mm); ThreadReady Script down to about 0.53 in (13.5 mm), from its 2 inch size, just above a 0.5 in name (0.55 in sews). Every size from a font's smallest up to its own size passes ThreadReady's checks. Use Sans (or another block font) for smaller names, or a small font you buy (below). A height below the font's smallest shows a warning here, the fit check says Too small, and customers can't order it.
• Fixed-size fonts. A font that stores finished stitches (a stitch-type BX) can't be re-sewn: it is scaled to the height, no smaller than 60% of its own size, as before. It can't grow either: a height above its own size sews at its own size, and the editor says so. The font's page says which kind each font is (Can be re-sewn or Fixed size) and its smallest size.
• Heights sew to the nearest 0.5 mm. 8.8 mm sews at 9.0 mm; the editor shows the height sewn when the rounding shows.
• Which file of a family sews it. In a family with several sizes (such as the five ThreadReady Script files), a field with a letter height is re-sewn from the largest file that can sew that height (or the size you pinned), so the size doesn't change with how long the customer's text is. A height none of the re-sewable files can reach is sewn from a small file in the family that can (see Small fonts you buy). The smallest size shown for the field is the smallest any file in the family sews, and which size of the family sews it; a height between two files' sizes says the next size up that sews.
• Let customers pick a size. Tick Let customers pick a size and choose the heights they may pick from; the field's own height is always one of them and is the default, and a field offers at most 6 heights. Only you set the size unless you turn this on. Only the sizes the font can sew are ticked for you; sizes too small for the font are shown greyed out as too small and can't be added, and you can't publish while the list offers one. The kiosk shows the sizes as chips in inches and mm; a size too small for the chosen font is greyed out, and if the field's own size is too small the kiosk says so, with the smallest size and a font that sews smaller. The order is priced by the stitches sewn at the chosen size, as always.
• Unverified until a stitch-out. The smallest sizes and stitch settings are rules of thumb, not yet checked on a machine. Sew the small-lettering test card before relying on them for customers.

Fields without a letter height sew exactly as before.

Small fonts you buy

For names smaller than your fonts can sew (0.25 in block names, say), buy a font digitized for that size and upload it like any other: name the file with the family and the size (e.g. Sans 0.25 inch BX.bx), so it lands in the same family as a size variant.

• What to buy. An Embrilliance BX font, either kind: a stitch-type font (finished stitches, sewn at the size it was digitized for and only scaled down, no smaller than 60%) or a Digitizer font drawn for small sizes (re-sewn like ThreadReady Sans). ESA and OFA font files can't be uploaded. Ask the supplier for its cap height, the underlay it uses (centre walk or none at small sizes) and whether it was made for 60 wt thread. Ask for a sample sew-out at the size you will sell.
• Check it after upload. Open the font's page: Can be re-sewn or Fixed size, the size it was digitized at, and the smallest it can sew. ThreadReady measures the smallest size after you upload or save a font (a minute or two; fonts uploaded together are measured in turn, so the last one can take a few minutes). A large font, such as a 3 inch one, takes longer: ThreadReady goes on measuring it in the background every 15 minutes until it finishes, and the page says when it has only measured part of the way. Until it is measured, a re-sewable font sews from its own size up. A small font sews no smaller than its own size unless smaller heights pass ThreadReady's checks; at its own size it sews as the digitizer made it, so sew a test first.
• Use it. Put the family on a field and set a Letter height. Heights the large file can sew still come from it; smaller heights come from the small file, and the kiosk's size chips offer them. A height between the two (above the small file's own size and below the large file's smallest) is greyed out.
• Sew a test. Sew a name at each size you will sell, on the fabric you sell it on, before offering it in the kiosk.