Appliqué — a piece of fabric under a satin edge

What is appliqué?

A patch of fabric held down by stitching instead of by thread alone. Where a fill covers an area with thread, appliqué covers it with cloth and stitches only the edge — far fewer stitches, a soft hand, and a chance to bring in a print or a texture that thread cannot do.

StitchPencil builds it as a section, the same idea as 3D Puff and Trapunto: the machine stops, the helper lines and the hand work belong to the shape as a whole, so they live on a layer group with its own inspector.

How do I make one?

Draw a closed satin ring — a satin column whose path comes back to where it started — then select it and choose Appliqué. You will find it:

• on the selection bar, for an object, a group row, or a multi-selection, and
• in the Convert menu of the object and group inspectors.

Several rings can go into one section: that is one piece of fabric with several openings, not several patches.

Only a closed satin ring qualifies. The ring is the covering edge, and its width is the cover width — a running stitch has no edge to cover with, and an open column leaves the patch unfinished at both ends, so the entry is not offered for them.

What does the machine actually do?

With the defaults, and in this order:

1. Placement line — the ring’s own contour as a plain running stitch on the bare fabric. It shows exactly where the patch goes.
2. Machine stop — lay the appliqué fabric over the marked area and fix it (spray adhesive, a pin, a piece of tape — StitchPencil does not prescribe a method).
3. Tackdown — the same contour again, sewn through the fabric to hold it down.
4. Machine stop — trim the excess fabric back to the tackdown line.
5. Your satin ring — the cover, sewn last, burying both helper lines under it.

Steps 1 and 3 follow the ring’s contour, so the cover lands on top of them by construction: no helper stitch is ever left visible on bare fabric.

What can I set?

The section’s inspector has three controls:

• Tackdown — Running (a double run, 2 mm) or Zigzag (an open zigzag, always narrower than the cover so it cannot peek out). Running is the default: it is invisible under the cover and quick. Zigzag grips a fraying fabric better.
• Pre-cut piece — for a patch you cut in advance (by hand or on a cutting machine). The trim stop disappears, since there is nothing left to trim.
• Machine stops — on by default. Turning them off leaves the lines but not the pauses, for a machine you stop yourself.

Can I get the stops back if I delete them?

Yes. The pauses appear as their own rows in the layers panel, and deleting a row is the same as switching its option off — delete the trim stop and the section simply becomes a pre-cut one. The inspector shows the same state, whichever way you got there.

What does the worksheet say?

Every stop is named with the hand work it asks for and the material it needs: lay the appliqué fabric, place the pre-cut piece, trim the fabric back. The worksheet prints it in the order the machine reaches them, so the person at the machine can follow along without knowing the design.

How do I get rid of it?

Plain satin ring, in the same Convert menu. The section dissolves, the helper lines and stops go with it, and your ring is left exactly as it was — same path, same width.

Is there a cutting file for the patch?

Not yet. Cutting the fabric in advance (and telling StitchPencil about it with Pre-cut piece) works today, but exporting the outline for a plotter or cutting machine is still on the list.