Cut, combine & convert — Knife, Punch, Border, Join, Convert
These live in the action grid you see once an object or group is selected (see Select & transform).
What does Knife do?
Section titled “What does Knife do?”Splits a Run, Satin or Fill into two separate objects along a line you draw across it — the machine equivalent of cutting a shape in half with scissors, but done before stitching, so you get two independently editable objects afterward.
What does Punch do?
Section titled “What does Punch do?”Uses the selected object as a stencil, stamping its shape as a cut-out (“knockout”) into whatever fill objects sit underneath it, so those fills stitch around the punched shape instead of solidly covering it. Options include an offset (shrink or grow the stencil slightly before punching) and whether the punching object itself remains after the punch or is consumed by it; it also works across a multi-object selection or a whole group at once.
What does Border do?
Section titled “What does Border do?”Adds an outline around the selected shape, with a choice of offset position: On edge, Outside, or Inside — useful for giving a fill a clean satin edge, or for Fit under border to have something to snap to.
What does Join do?
Section titled “What does Join do?”Welds a group of Run or Satin objects into a single object, so the machine treats them as one continuous stitch-out rather than several separate pieces needing their own travel/trim between them. A joined group is marked with a green link icon in the Layers panel so it’s visually obvious later which objects are actually one unit.
What does Convert do?
Section titled “What does Convert do?”Changes an object’s underlying stitch kind — Run ↔ Satin ↔ Fill — via a matrix of what’s allowed to convert into what (not every combination is meaningful, so some paths are gated with an explanation rather than silently failing). Converting text to a path uses the letter as the geometric unit, and converting a shape with an interior cut-out preserves it as a proper hole ring rather than flattening it away.
What does “Overlaps” (Remove Overlaps) do?
Section titled “What does “Overlaps” (Remove Overlaps) do?”Hides fill stitches that end up completely hidden underneath objects stitched later, so the machine doesn’t waste time and thread stitching a layer nobody will ever see. It reports how much of the fill it took — a trim that ate most of an object usually means the layer order is wrong, not that you saved a lot of thread.
It does not trim flush to the covering object’s edge: it leaves a margin tucked underneath, because the two edges pull apart slightly on fabric and a gap would open along the seam. How wide that margin is comes from Overlap under covers in Project settings — soft, stretchy cloth wants more of it.
This one edits the object’s shape, so it is not a display setting you can flip back and forth: changing the margin afterwards does not re-cut what was already cut. Undo and run it again.
What does “Fit under border” do?
Section titled “What does “Fit under border” do?”Snaps a fill’s edge to sit just inside a matching closed satin border drawn over it, so the fill doesn’t peek out past the border or leave a visible gap — this is the manual trigger for the same behavior the app-wide assistant can also do automatically.