Welcome Spring! Lettering Frames The Arc. April 2014

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1 Welcome Spring! April 2014 Spring is here! The trees and flowers are blooming, everything is fresh and full of life. Along with it comes a new expectancy of what lies ahead. Perhaps you re eagerly anticipating a wedding, graduation or a new baby arriving soon. Whatever it is, spring can inspire fresh new creative ideas, and your SINGER FUTURA TM sewing and embroidery machine can help you turn them into reality. In this month s issue of Embroidery Made Easy, we will explore more options with built-in lettering, focusing specifically on one of the most popular lettering frames, the Arc. You will learn how easy it is to shape text layouts using the Arc frame. Then, we will show you how to create darling cupcake toppers for an upcoming graduation party using this lettering technique. This month s Inside Your Software article will explain how to use the Design Browser to quickly and easily find designs that are stored either on the hard drive of your computer or on another storage device such as a CD-Rom. So get ready, let s get started! Lettering Frames The Arc We have already featured many useful and informative topics for built-in lettering in past issues of our monthly newsletter. If you ve missed any of these articles, please go to and select Embroidery Made Easy. There, you ll find past articles in archived newsletters. Lettering is once again our topic, however, this month, we ll explore how to structure words in a circular or arced shape. The Arc frame allows the text to be shaped into one of four options: 1) text on the top of the arc; 2) text on the bottom of the arc; 3) text on the top and the bottom of the arc and 4) text on the top, bottom and center of the arc. These frames can also be moved, resized and rotated. Open the software for the SINGER FUTURA TM sewing & embroidery machine. Select the Lettering icon from the main tool bar. Then select the Frames icon. A submenu appears with 30 text frame options. The focus of this lesson is the four, green, Arc frames on the second row. The green area represents APRIL 2014 Issue

2 Select the first Arc icon (the icon with the top half of the frame filled in green). When this frame is selected, the text will automatically be placed at the top of the arc. Type Spring Time in the text box. Select the remaining options: Font Block Large; Height 0.39; Space 0.04 and Justify left. As the text is entered into the text box, the letters will appear in a ghost form on the screen in the arc shape. The text can be altered in many ways while they are in this ghost form. Drag the node to alter the shape of the arc. Look closely and you will notice that the letters appear in between two circles that have several different marks or nodes on them. Some of the nodes are square and some of them are round. Each has a unique function that can be used to manipulate the size and shape of the text. To change the shape of the arc, left click and hold the cursor on the square node on the right side of the inner circle; then drag the node either the left or the right. To make the arc wider, drag node to the right. To make the arc narrower, drag the node to the left. Click on the center square node to move the entire frame around on the screen. Drag the node to the right, and the circular shape will arc wider. Drag the node to the left, and the shape will arc narrower. Release the left mouse button when the desired shape is achieved. The square node that is in the center of the inner circle will allow the entire text frame to be moved around on the screen. To move the entire frame, left click on the square node, hold and drag the frame to a new position on the screen. Release the left mouse button when the frame is moved to the new position. APRIL 2014 Issue, Page 2

3 The Arc text frame has two lines that cross and intersect in the center of the inner circle. The lines run north, south, east and west which indicates the direction in which the frame is positioned within the area of the hoop. The entire text frame can be rotated. The two round nodes on the outer circle will rotate the frame. To rotate the frame, left click and hold either round node on the outer circle. Drag the frame towards the right to rotate the frame to the right. Drag the frame to the left to rotate the frame to the left. Release the mouse button when the frame is rotated to the desired position. Now let s take a look at the function of the two round nodes on the inner circle which are positioned at both ends of the text, in this case at the bottom of the S and the bottom of the e. (See below). The text always remains within these two nodes, however, one or both of the nodes can be Click and drag the round node upward to the right to rotate the entire text frame to the right. Click and drag the round node downward to the left to rotate the entire text frame to the left. Round node is slid downward to the left, the text stretches out. Round node is slid upward towards the right, the text pushes in close together. Both round node are slid towards the left, the text slides downward to the left of the circle. slid up or down to move the letters up or down within the two circles of the arc. If only one of the nodes is moved, the text will either shrink in or stretch out depending on which direction it is moved. If the left node is slid downward towards the left, the text will pull apart and stretch out. If the same node is moved upwards towards the right, the text will be squeezed in and pushed together. If both nodes are moved the text will slide in the direction that they are moved. The nodes can be moved anywhere along the inner circle which provides almost unlimited options for repositioning the text. At anytime, the reset button can be used to start completely over. Select the Reset icon on the main tool bar. The lettering frame will return to the original settings. Both nodes are moved downward towards the right. APRIL 2014 Issue, Page 3

4 This square node will make the entire frame larger or smaller. Pull the node downward and the entire frame gets smaller. The square node at the top of the inner circle will make the entire frame larger or smaller. Pull the node downward to make the frame smaller. Push the node upward and the frame gets larger. Notice that the size of the letters remain the same, however they will be redistributed around the arc. You can always check the size of the letters by looking at the Height box on the lettering frame tool bar. If the frame is made smaller, the text will stretch around the frame. If the frame is larger, the will shrink in towards the top of the frame. Push the node upward and the entire frame gets larger. The square node at the bottom center of the inner circle will make the arc more elliptical in shape. This node will also lengthen or shorten the arc. If the node is pulled downward the arc lengthens. Likewise, if the node is pushed upward, it shortens and flattens the arc. This square node makes the arc more elliptical in shape. It will also lengthen or shorten the arc. Push the square node upward, and the arc flattens. Pull the square node downward and the arc lengthens. APRIL 2014 Issue, Page 4

5 The square node at the top of the outer circle will increase the size of the text. The center circle will remain constant. As the size of the letters increase however, they will be evenly redistributed around the circle. Move the node upward, the letters get bigger, downward and the letters get smaller. The square node at the top of the outer circle, will increase or decrease the size of the letters. The inner circle remains the same. Move the node upward, the letters get bigger, downward and the letters get smaller. Once you are satisfied with the changes that you have made, right click and select Stitch It! The letters will fill in with stitches. If you d like to make changes to the text after the stitches have been filled in, simply click on the Editing icon on the main tool bar. Then select the Outline lettering icon and the text will return to the ghost form. If you re following along, go ahead and do that now to prepare for the next section. Now let s take a look at the second Arc frame. Once again, click on the Frames icon on the lettering tool bar. Please note: the Frames icon will always reflect the current frame or the last frame that was used on the screen. In this case the icon will look like this. Select the arc frame that has the bottom half filled in with green. When this frame is selected, the text will appear on the lower half of the frame. Both the frame and text can be manipulated APRIL 2014 Issue, Page 5

6 The next Arc frame we ll experiment with is the frame that will accommodate two lines of text. Select the Lettering Frame icon again and then select the Arc frame with two green areas, one on the top and one on the bottom. At this time, add another line of text in the text box. Type in Is Here! on the second line. The letters should say Spring Time Is Here! The letters appear in the frame on two lines, one on the top of the arc and the other on the bottom of the arc. Once again the nodes can be used to rotate, resize and reshape the letters and the frame. Experiment to see what happens to the letters as you move the nodes around. Remember you can always return to the original size and shape by using the Reset icon. And finally the last Arc frame is for three lines of text. Select the Lettering Frames icon, then select the Arc frame that has three areas of green. Let s change the wording in the text box again. Remove the exclamation mark, then type in, Today! on a third line. Now the text appears on three lines. Use the nodes to manipulate the letters and the frame as before. APRIL 2014 Issue, Page 6

7 Design Browser The Design Browser is a quick and easy way to access stitch files from anywhere in the computer. It doesn't matter if the designs are stored on the computer s hard drive or another storage devices such as a CD-ROM. Even the built in Design Library can be viewed in the Design Browser. Using the Design Browser can be especially helpful when designs are stored on a large library CD such as the SINGER 2900 Design Collection. The Design Browser window makes is much easier to view and sort through the designs because they appear in a catalog layout with the designs the size of a small thumbprint. When selected, an individual design can be seen along the bottom, with specific information such as, design size, stitch format, and stitch count. Also, the selected design appears, broken down into individual color blocks. First let s use the Design Browser to view the built-in Library designs. Open the software for the SINGER FUTURA TM sewing & embroidery machine. Select File from the main tool bar. Select Design Browser. The next step is to select the specific folder that contains the designs you wish to view. Finding a file can be much like peeling an onion - you may have to go through layers to find the folder that you are looking for. In this case the Design Library is located on the hard drive of the computer. (Please note: in most cases, the hard drive of the computer is the Local C drive). Step 1 Click on the Local C drive. Step 2 From the list of files, select the Futura 4 folder. Step 3 Select the Library folder, three more folders are exposed, for Endless Hoop, for large Hoop and for small Hoop. Step 4 Select for small Hoop. Step 1 Step 2 Please Note: Every computer has different contents. Do not be concerned if you don t have the same folders as what is shown in the example. Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 APRIL 2014 Issue, Page 7

8 Design Browser (cont d) Notice the information that is available on the bottom of the Design Browser window, when a design is highlighted in the Design Browser. The File name, Width, Height, Stitches and Color Stops appears. The color blocks are also visible. In the event that there are too many color blocks to see at once, a slide bar will appear below the blocks; use the cursor to slide the bar over to view the remaining color blocks. To open the design, click on the Open button. The design appears in the hoop in stitch format, not in the usual ghost format. Remember when a design is in the ghost format, it can be easily moved, rotated or resized by moving the different nodes that are on the wire-bounding box that surrounds the design. If you wish to make changes to a design that has been opened with the Design Browser, you will need to select the design using the select function to bring it to the ghost format. Now, let s look at using the Design Browser when the design originates from a CD-Rom. Insert the CD into the drive on the computer. Once again select the Design Browser, found under the File menu. This time select the drive that contains the CD, (Please note: the name of this drive will vary from computer, sometimes it s the D, E, F or G drive). In this example, it is the E drive. When the E drive is selected the folders are visible. Use the same steps as before to find and then select the desired design. APRIL 2014 Issue, Page 8

9 Cupcake Party Favor Cupcakes are perfect for almost any occasion! Here s a clever way to make them even more festive. Whether you re planning a graduation party, baby shower or birthday celebration, these toppers are sure to be a hit. You can change the text as desired to personalize for your special event. Visit the SINGERCo.com/blog or SINGERCo.com/projects to download the project! Coming in the Next Issue Using the Edit Outline Function APRIL 2014 Issue, Page 9