Features Art and Stitch Base Version

Vector Based Designing: true vector drawing tools (pen, line, curve, bezier, 3 pt arc) make it easy to draw your own artwork by clicking from point to point, right-click to finish.

The advantage of vector based designing is not only the ease of drawing (clicking from point to point) but also the ease of editing (simply reshape by moving points / anchors) and the high quality: vector based designs can be scaled without limits and will have nice smooth outlines. With our semi-automatic 3 pt arc tool creating feather designs is really doable!

Short learning curve: the user friendly toolbars, organized in sets of tools belonging together make the software intuitive. Hover the mouse over a button and a tooltip will show the name, function and how to use the button. The User Guide is inside the program and tutorial videos are on the CD as well as on this website.

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List of supported file types (Read / Write) in Art and Stitch

Drawing / vector artwork:

Vector drawing tools to create your own artwork - from scratch or by tracing a background image.

3 types of Auto Trace
Magic Wand: vectorize Lines
Magic Wand: vectorize shapes (Autodigitizing)

Outline wizard: vectorize an image

Autoshapes: Circle, Rectangle, Pentagon, Triangle, Hexagon and Spiral maker.

Power Copy: select an object and automatically keep pasting in various sizes. Great to use in meandering designs and for so called P2P (point to Point) triangular designs.

The Library contains more than 300 vector artwork designs. A valuable start to create quilting and embroidery designs. You can save your own design elements in the Library too for easy access of frequently used patterns.

Transform: several ways to transform artwork and stitch based designs,

10 envelope shapes, a free distort function and

a fun "distortion" to turn designs into zigzaggy or wavy patterns

or into a sphere.

Import artwork from popular vector applications: Import Ai, WMF, EMF (for example EMF’s exported from Pre-Design Studio or from ElectricQuilt).

Export vector artwork as Ai Adobe Illustrator, WMF, EMF format.

Easy and advanced editing by moving points / anchors.

With the "Free Distort" function you can squeeze a design into a not so perfectly pieced block.

Create a wreath with the Magic Circle.

Or use the Magic Square to automatically copy, paste, flip and mirror 1 element into a block of 4.

Let the Magic Rays tool put rays around a simple closed shape.

Use the Repeat function to create pantos / E2E’s and to see how patterns form a secondary pattern when repeated. Print designs (pantos) at actual size.

Type notes on the Design Page (great for instructions, class handouts, pantos).

Turn True Type Fonts into vector artwork.

With the Design on Path function you can let your patterns follow a path. You can create your own paths too.

Apply Stitches:

Fill shapes with Motifs - more than 300 patterns to choose from. It's a wonderful alternative for stippling. It is even comparable to the micro stippling of quilt artists.

Apply various types of (cross) hatching.

Our Creative Fill function is really addictive: create many designs in seconds.

Apply stippling to fill a closed shape.

Create and save your own Creative Fills, Custom Shapes, Motif stitches.

Use Motif, Hatch or Stipple fills around a shape, leaving the shape itself open. Great for trapunto effects or to go around applique or embroidery in a quilt.

Create Applique designs in seconds. Use various stitch types, including Motifs for applique. Not only for embroidery machines, but also for longarm systems! Open applique fabric to see how the finished design will look.

Create Crazy Patchwork using the many available Motif stitches as outline stitch.

Create Blackwork patterns with the built in blackwork motifs: small for embroidery patterns and yes, large is really fun on a quilt!

Apply echo effect around a shape.

Miscellanous features:

Print Catalog: a powerful function to show and print all designs (all quilt / embroiery formats) on paper. This function will print thumbnails and file names of all designs in a folder. Great to let your customer choose a design. Or print as a PDF. Description how to do that is in the User Guide.

Export image, very helpful to email an image of your design to your customer, or use the images to place on your website.

Print Preview

Print panto’s at actual size

Print on large size paper if such a printer is installed

Let the powerful "Browser" find and show all quilt and embroidery designs in all formats on your computer. Thumbnails showing in the Browser window will make it easy to find and open the pattern you knew you had somewhere.

Designers: Batch Save a pattern in one step in all quilt formats or in all embroidery machine formats.

Add copyright notes to your patterns.

Layout a full quilt and send to your longarm system block by block or row by row.

See stitches in 3D view.

Use the Sew Simulator to see how your machine will sew the result.

In Properties Panel and Sequence View you can change all stitch settings of a selection, lock / Show/Hide designs, change the sewing sequence.

Open, Merge, Customize existing designs. No need to buy extra software: Art and Stitch can open and save in the major longarm quilt formats and the major embroidery machine formats. See list below.

About Windows 8

Before changing your Windows operating system be sure to DEACTIVATE Art and Stitch via menu Help > License Activator.

See deactivation instructions on our FAQ page.

Art and Stitch runs fine on a desktop, laptop, netbook with Windows 8. As running software on Windows 8 brings you back in a Windows 7 environment, we haven't found the fun yet in upgrading to Windows 8...