Interactive Free-Hand Splitting

Embird Embroidery Software Tutorial

Embroidery design splitting is a technique used to break down large embroidery patterns into smaller, more manageable pieces. This is done so the design can be stitched out on machines with smaller hoop sizes or to better accommodate the fabric or item being embroidered. It is commonly used when the design is too big to fit in a single hoop or needs to be applied across different parts of a garment.

This tutorial explains how to split a design using the free-hand selection of an object area.

Note: Other ways of splitting are explained in the following tutorials: Split Before/After Color, Separate Color, Using Initial and Ending Stitch Boxes, Auto-Split, Auto-Split Along Hoop Boundaries and Saving and Sewing of Split Designs.

1 - Run Embird.

2 - Click the "Editor" menu to switch to the Editor window.

3 - Select the "File > Open" menu to open the file, which will be split into two parts.

4 - Click the "Freehand Select Mode" icon to choose the freehand select mode (Picture No. 1).

1. Choose Freehand Select Mode

5 - Select the area which you want to separate (cut out). Move the mouse pointer to the Work Area and click the left mouse button to place the starting point of the selection (1 in Picture No. 2). Move the mouse pointer to another position on the Work Area and click the left mouse button to place the second point of the selection, and repeat this procedure until you create a boundary around the whole part that you want to separate. If you make a mistake, click the right mouse button to delete the current last point of the boundary. Finally, double-click the left mouse button to close the boundary. The stitches lying inside the boundary are selected and drawn in red (Picture No. 3).

2. Select area to separate

6 - Click the "Split" button located in the toolbar at the top of the screen to separate the red selection (Picture No. 3).

3. Click "Split" button to separate the selection

7 - Now you can see that the design was split into 2 parts. Some designs might be split into 3 parts, depending on which part you decide to separate. To save the separated part into a file on your hard disk, or to move it over the Work Area, click the left mouse button on the part to select it. A black frame is drawn around the design when it is selected (Picture No. 4).

4. Click left mouse button on the part to select it

8 - Click the "File > Save Selected As" menu to save the selected part (Picture No. 5).

5. Save selected part

9 - Choose the target file format in the dialog box which appears on the screen (Picture No. 6). Click the "OK" button to continue.

6. Choose target file format

10 - Choose the drive, folder, and file name of the design being saved (Picture No. 7). Click the "Save" button to continue.

7. Choose drive, folder and file name of design

11 - To save the second part of the design, select it first and then repeat steps 7 to 10.

12 - When you have successfully saved all parts, you can open some of these parts to check them.

13 - Embird will ask you whether you want to save the changes in the original design (in the design you have opened in step 3 and split). If you do not want to overwrite the original embroidery, click the "No" button in the "Confirm" dialog box which appears on the screen (Picture No. 8).

8. Don't overwrite original embroidery

14 - The part which was selected in step 12 is open and appears on the Work Area (Picture No. 9).

9. Open selected part

15 - When finished, use the "File > Exit" menu to exit the Editor.

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