Fill (Tatami) — Angle, density and fill patterns
What is the Fill tool for?
Section titled “What is the Fill tool for?”A closed region filled edge-to-edge with rows of straight stitches — the standard way to cover a large area. Draw a closed shape (or use one from Shapes) and pick Fill from the rail.
What does increasing or decreasing Density actually look like?
Section titled “What does increasing or decreasing Density actually look like?”Density is the gap between one row of stitching and the next. Turn it down (tighter spacing, sometimes shown as a smaller millimeter value) and rows pack closer together — fuller, more opaque coverage, more thread used, and on lightweight or stretchy fabric, more stiffening. Turn it up (wider spacing) and the fill gets faster and lighter, but past a certain point the base fabric starts to show through between rows. There’s no universal “correct” value — it’s a trade-off you make per fabric and per design, which is why it’s an editable slider rather than a fixed constant.
What’s the “Satin edge” toggle I see on some Fill objects?
Section titled “What’s the “Satin edge” toggle I see on some Fill objects?”A thin satin band stitched along the fill’s outline, in the same thread as the fill itself — it crisps up the edge and stops the fill’s raw border from fraying, without needing a separate Border object. Toggle it on and an Edge width slider appears to set how wide that band is (typically kept quite thin, around 1 mm). This is different from adding an explicit Border — Satin edge is a lightweight, same-color finish built into the Fill object itself.
What does “Angle” do, and what if my shape curves?
Section titled “What does “Angle” do, and what if my shape curves?”One fixed direction for every row in the fill. For a shape that curves — a banana, a wavy ribbon — a single angle can look wrong on part of the shape; draw a flow line instead, right below the Angle slider, to have the rows follow the curve rather than a straight compass direction.
What do density and stitch length control?
Section titled “What do density and stitch length control?”Density (row spacing) sets how close together the parallel rows of stitching sit — tighter spacing gives fuller coverage but uses more thread and can stiffen fabric more. Stitch length sets the spacing of the needle penetrations within each row.
What are the six fill patterns, and how do I choose?
Section titled “What are the six fill patterns, and how do I choose?”Opened from the pattern grid in the Fill inspector:
- Diagonal — the default weave, an even zigzag look
- Brick — a calmer, offset-row look, like brickwork
- Scatter — randomizes the row offset to hide any visible seam lines
- Wave — the rows themselves undulate
- Chevron — a zig-zagging texture phase
- Contour — rings that follow the shape’s own outline rather than a straight scanline direction, useful for organic shapes where you want the texture to read as “wrapped around” the form
Are Guided fill and Sashiko in this picker?
Section titled “Are Guided fill and Sashiko in this picker?”No — both are separate, deliberately distinct paths. Guided fill is entered via the object’s flow-line tooling described above; Sashiko is its own motif-lattice mode reached from the object’s action grid, not from this pattern list, since it replaces the whole fill rather than just choosing a texture for it.
What is “Remove Overlaps” and does it belong here?
Section titled “What is “Remove Overlaps” and does it belong here?”It’s a separate action (in the object action grid, not the Fill inspector) that hides fill stitches which end up hidden underneath later objects — see Cut, combine & convert.