Stitch Draft — a first draft from flat artwork
What is Stitch Draft?
Section titled “What is Stitch Draft?”An experimental tool that turns a flat image — a sticker, a logo, a line drawing — into editable stitch objects: regions become fills, and in a line drawing the lines can become satin columns and runs. It makes a rough first draft, never a finished design; you always refine the result by hand with the ordinary tools. It is off by default.
Where do I switch it on?
Section titled “Where do I switch it on?”App settings → Labs → Stitch Draft. A confirmation says what the tool is good for. Once on, a Create Stitch Draft tile appears in the tool rail above Select; it takes a picture from the photo library or from Files and opens the assistant.
What do the options do?
Section titled “What do the options do?”- Gradients become blends — a color ramp in the picture becomes a real blend of two or three threads instead of banded stripes.
- Smoothing — rounds the outlines along the shape instead of following every pixel step; corners stay sharp. Turn it down when the edges should follow the picture pixel by pixel.
- Detect line work — off by default: every color area becomes a fill, which suits stickers and cartoons best. Switch it on for line drawings: dark lines up to the set width become satin columns and runs, laid on top of the fill they cross.
- Remove background and Despeckle — drop the paper behind the artwork and the JPG noise in it.
- Follow texture direction — fills take their angle from the grain of the region.
- Keep original as reference — the picture stays on the canvas as a reference image under the stitches.
The result line says what happened: how many regions became objects, and how many details were dropped — those are drawn dashed in the preview, so you see what was left out before you accept. Text in the picture is recognised as a zone and left out on purpose: letters come out better set as text.
What does the reference check tell you?
Section titled “What does the reference check tell you?”At the top of the assistant sits a Reference image card with a verdict — from Well suited through Usable to Nothing to convert here, plus notes about soft edges, JPG noise or low resolution.
It rates the image, not the result. All it tells you is whether there are flat colors and crisp edges for the draft to work from. Even a well-suited image can come out different from what you expect — the draft stays a starting point you refine by hand.
What does it not do?
Section titled “What does it not do?”Photos and complex images. A picture with soft shading, many similar colors or fine texture does not convert reliably — the assistant says so when the picture looks like a photo. For those, trace over a reference image by hand.