| You want… | Use |
|---|---|
| A border or frame around the design | Rectangle or Rounded rectangle, Outline, or the Frame |
| A circle, wreath base or moon | Ellipse (hold Shift), Ring, Crescent |
| A heart for a wedding or baby sampler | Heart |
| Stars, snowflakes and sparkles for winter | Star, Six-point star, Snowflake, Sparkle |
| A geometric band, like diamonds or zigzags | Diamond, Zigzag, Chevron |
| A badge behind a name or date | A filled Rectangle or Rounded rectangle |
| Flowers and leaves for a simple motif | Flower, Leaf, Teardrop |
Shape Tool
Draw frames, circles, hearts, stars and other shapes in stitches, filled or as an outline. Adjust, move and rotate a shape before it turns into stitches.
- Shortcut
- R
- Where to find it
- Left toolbar → Shape
Keyboard & modifiers
- R
- Shape tool, Rectangle
- O
- Shape tool, Ellipse
- Shift (while drawing)
- Keep it even: a square, a circle, a regular shape
- Alt (while drawing)
- Draw out from the center
- Shift (while rotating)
- Snap the rotation to 15° steps
- Arrows
- Nudge the shape you are placing by one stitch
- Enter
- Place the shape
- Escape
- Cancel the shape
- Alt+Click (not drawing)
- Pick a color from the chart
Basics
Straight edges and round curves are the hardest things to count out by hand. The Shape tool draws them for you: a frame around a sampler, a circle for a wreath or a moon, a heart for a wedding piece, a row of diamonds for a band. Every shape lands on the stitch grid, so the chart shows exactly what you'll stitch.
You drag a shape out, adjust it until it sits right, then place it.
Which shape for which job
Drawing a shape
- Press R for a rectangle or O for an ellipse, or open the shape list to pick another shape.
- Drag on the chart from one corner of the shape to the other. Hold Shift to keep it even, and Alt to draw out from the center.
- Let go. The shape sits in a frame, not yet stitched. Drag inside the frame to move it, drag its handles to resize or rotate it (hold Shift to turn in 15° steps), or nudge it with the arrow keys.
- Change the color, fill or outline width now if you like: the shape updates in place.
- Press Enter or click Place to stitch it. Escape or Cancel throws it away.
Starting a new shape outside the frame also places the current one. Each placed shape is one undo step.
Filled vs outline
Filled stitches every square inside the shape: badges, solid motifs, the background of a label. Outline stitches only the edge and leaves the inside empty, for frames, wreaths and outlined icons.
Set the outline width from 1 to 10 stitches. One stitch gives a fine line, three or four a bold frame.
Shaping the shape
Open the shape list to see every shape, grouped as Rectangles, Circles & arcs, Polygons, Stars, Quads, Motifs and Symbols. Many shapes have their own settings in the same list: how round a rectangle's corners are, how many points a star has, how many sides a polygon has, how many petals a flower has, how wide a ring is.
Adjust these before you place, and the shape you're placing changes with them.
Borders and frames
A frame finishes a sampler and makes a small piece look complete.
- A simple border: Rectangle, Outline, width 1 to 3. Drag from corner to corner of your stitching area and fine-tune it with the frame handles before placing.
- A double border: draw one outline, then a second one a few stitches inside it, in another color.
- Soft corners: use the Rounded rectangle and set how round the corners are.
- A round frame: Ring, or an Ellipse outline with Shift held.
Leave a few empty stitches between the frame and your design so the border doesn't crowd it. For a frame that's wider than a few stitches or made of repeating motifs, draw one corner or one repeat and copy it with Selection and Transform.
Geometric motifs and symmetry
Shapes combine into motifs: a circle inside a square, a star on a diamond, a band of chevrons. Draw the first shape, then the next on top of it.
With Brush symmetry turned on, a shape is mirrored as you draw it, in every symmetry mode. Draw one heart in a corner, and the other three corners get theirs at the same time. That's the quickest way to an even, balanced design.
For repeats like a row of diamonds, draw one, then select and duplicate it with Selection and Transform.
Textures and erasing
- Fill in the options bar can be Checkerboard instead of Solid, so the shape is stitched at the density you pick. With a secondary color set, it splits between the two colors, for a woven or shaded look.
- Erasing: drag with the right mouse button, or use the eraser mode, and the shape clears stitches instead of adding them. Handy for cutting a round window out of a filled area.
- Half stitches: the stitch type selector works for shapes too.
Tips & gotchas
- Circles look stepped up close. That's the grid, and it's normal. Zoom out to judge the curve the way it'll look stitched.
- Thick outlines swallow small shapes. A 4-stitch outline on a 10-stitch heart fills it in. Use thin outlines on small shapes.
- Shapes cover what's under them. Draw on a separate layer if you want to try a frame without touching your design.
- Need a finer line? For outlines thinner than a full stitch, use Backstitch.
- Only inside an area: with Limit edits to selection on, the shape is clipped to the selection. Useful for filling one region exactly.