Papercrafts and other fun things: A STEM Project: Three Different Methods of Colorizing a TurtleStitch Design

A Colorized TurtleStitch Design

This embroidered design was colorized with Inkscape/Inkstitch

https://www.turtlestitch.org/run#cloud:Username=Elaine&ProjectName=Draw%20Anything%20from%20Andrea%21

The flower petals were colorized with the fill capabilities in Inkscape and then sent to Inkstitch to be digitized for the embroidery machine.

TurtleStitch is a program which generates patterns for an embroidery machine. The patterns are made by moving a turtle around the stage area and its position is recorded by the program. The movement of the turtle is recorded in a graphic table of X and Y coordinates. These series of X and Y coordinates create the paths which represent the position where the needle of the embroidery machine will sew. When the computer code is converted to code which the embroidery machine recognizes, it is known as digitizing, For example, when you export your file as a Tajima/EXP file, the TurtleStitch computer code is digitized for the Brother embroidery machine.

In this blog posting, I will describe three methods of colorizing a TurtleStitch design. The three methods are with thread, appliqué and Inkscape/Inkstitch.

Colorizing a TurtleStitch Design

1). Colorizing with Thread

Threads of many colors can be used by coding a "Set Color" block. The embroidery machine will stop when it encounters the "Set Color" block and the thread can be changed to another color.

In the following program, the color was changed from the border color to the medallion color. https://www.turtlestitch.org/run#cloud:Username=Elaine&ProjectName=Hexagon%20Center%20With%20Fan%20Border Please note that when coding the design, the exact color does not need to be coded in the "Set Color" block.

Using Variegated Thread offers another way of bringing color to your embroidery design.https://www.turtlestitch.org/run#cloud:Username=Elaine&ProjectName=Polygon%20Spirals

2). Colorizing with Applique

Another method of colorizing a TurtleStitch design is with appliqué. A piece of colored fabric, which becomes the appliqué, is placed on top of the backing fabric and is tacked down with a running stitch. The embroidery is temporarily removed from the embroidery machine and the appliquéd fabric is cut as close as possible to the outside of the running stitch. The embroidery hoop is then returned to the machine and a satin stitch is sewn on top of the running stitch to complete the design. In this program, https://www.turtlestitch.org/users/Elaine/projects/Heart%20Applique a heart is appliquéd.

To Applique A Heart:

Attach a backing fabric with a stabilizer to your hoop. Float another piece of fabric on top of the backing fabric on your hoop. This top layer will be the appliqué fabric for the heart. It will be sewn down with a running stitch.

Once the running stitch is complete, the embroidery machine will stop because of the "set color" command. Remove the hoop from the machine (Do not remove the fabric from the hoop) and cut away the outer edge of the heart fabric with scissors. Try to get as close to the edge of the heart without cutting the running stitch. In the photo, you can see that I cut the appliqué fabric to about 1/16 of an inch away from the outer edge of the running stitch.

Reattach the hoop to the embroidery machine. Satin stitch the heart.

3). Colorizing With Inkscape/Inkstitch By Applying Color With A Fill

A third method of colorizing a TurtleStitch design is to save the program as a Tajima/DST file or a Melco/EST file. Import the file into Inkscape. Inkscape is a free vector graphics program which has an embroidery design extension called Inkstitch. Both programs need to be installed on your computer.

Inkscape https://inkscape.org and Inkstitch https://inkstitch.org are valuable tools beyond colorizing because Inkscape allows you to resize your embroidery design and Inkstitch allows you to add text to your design.

To colorize your TurtleStitch created design, the instructions to add fill are as follows.

Import the file into Inkscape and say Ok to SVG Input.

Zoom into the design by increasing the value in the bottom right of the page.

Using the paint bucket tool(fill), add color to the areas where you would like color. Please note, the areas to be filled need to have a closed path.

Make sure that the stroke says "paint is undefined". Otherwise, there will be a line created around the fill.

Once all of the fill has been added, make sure all the layers are selected (a bounding box will be around each fill) go to Extension, Inkstitch, Fill Tools, Break Apart Fill Objects - this will fix fill problems.