Tips & Techniques

Customizing Words on a Curve

When you type in the letters using the circle clockwise, you can make that circle large so that the curve will be more shallow, but the "crosshair" of the circle must fit within the design area to be able to save that design.

BUT WHAT IF YOU WANT THE CIRCLE TO BE LESS CURVED, MAYBE MORE OVAL?

That means that you have to make the circle pretty big and the crosshair will be outside the hoop area. We can change the "hoop size" temporarily to fix the problem as in the example below.

I opened the Customizing screen and chose the 250 X 140 horizontal hoop. I chose a design of a bear on a scale. I moved the design to the lower center of the "stitching area" by placing my cursor on the crosshair of the center of the design and placing it on the center vertical line.

I wanted to add curved words above the design. I typed in "Teddy is being weighed in!" and I chose the "Times font 15-50." I set the size at "15." I also chose the "line type" as "circle clockwise."

I "left clicked and held" the mouse button on the crosshair of the circle and dragged it to the center vertical line just inside the lower part of the stitching area so the circle would be centered. To "enlarge" the circle, left click on the hollow box and "pull it outwards" to make the circle much bigger.

To MOVE the lettering around the circle, hold down the "Control key" and left click on the hollow box and this lets you move the beginning of the lettering to the top of the circle and balance the words on the circle.

To move the circle of words downward, just place your cursor anywhere inside the circle and move the circle down. Look at the tops and the sides of the letters to make sure they fit within the "stitching area." Do not worry if the "crosshair" goes outside of the "stitching area."

Once you are happy with the look, then glance at that crosshair to estimate how much bigger the hoop would have to be to accommodate having the crosshair inside the "stitching area." Does it look like 3 grids below (30mm) or 4 (40mm)?

Then click on "Preferences" and choose the "Enter Size" which is the first hoop choice on the list and change the hoop size to accommodate the height of the design so that the crosshair will fit inside THAT hoop area. The height was 140 and you may need 180 to fit the crosshair inside the "stitching area." Make that change.

Now, see the crosshair is inside the new hoop size stitching area.

Click on "Combine." This will put an outline box around the whole design and because it fits into the stitching area, the crosshair will be centered.

Change back to the hoop size you originally used and the design will still be on the screen exactly as you set it. Click on "Combine" once more and click on "Center Design" and then save it.