Thread Color Sorting

Floriani FTCU has a built-in feature that will sort multiple thread colors in the Sequence View. This can be very helpful to use after digitizing your design.

Here is a reader question that asks about combining thread colors.

“I have 8 thread colors and some of them are the same color. Can I combine them?”

Yes, you can combine thread colors that are the same color. Unless they need to be separated because of the stitching order. I will explain:

First, let’s create a sample design:

Digitizing Order # 1 – square shape

For this segment you will be using a FILL stitch.

step 1: choose the stitch:

• left click on the FILL stitch icon on the top tool bar.

step 2: choose a thread color:

• left click on a RED thread color on the thread color toolbar

step 3: trace the shape

• trace a square shape on your workspace
• use left clicks to place the nodes
• place the last node directly on top of the beginning node to close the shape
• RIGHT click on the workspace to finish

Digitizing Order #2 – copy and paste the shape

Now you can copy and paste the square shape instead of tracing it again.

Here is how to do that:

step 1: copy and paste the shape

• in the sequence view, left click on the SQUARE stitch to select it
• left click on the COPY icon on the top toolbar
• left click on the PASTE icon on the top toolbar
• the copy will be ON TOP of the selected shape

step 2: place the shape

• left click on the shape (on the workspace) > drag the copy to move it to the new location
• while it is still selected, left click on a BLUE thread color on the thread color toolbar (at the bottom)

Now you will have a RED square and a BLUE square:

Digitizing Order #3 – copy and paste the shape

Now you can copy and paste the square shape instead of tracing it again.

Here is how to do that:

step 1: copy and paste the shape

• in the sequence view, left click on the BLUE SQUARE stitch to select it
• left click on the COPY icon on the top toolbar
• left click on the PASTE icon on the top toolbar
• the copy will be ON TOP of the selected shape

step 2: place the shape

• left click on the shape (on the workspace) > drag the copy to move it to the new location
• while it is still selected, left click on a YELLOW thread color on the thread color toolbar (at the bottom)

Now, you will have 3 squares:

Digitizing Order #4 – copy and paste the shape

Now you can copy and paste the square shape instead of tracing it again.

Here is how to do that:

step 1: copy and paste the shape

• in the sequence view, left click on the YELLOW SQUARE stitch to select it
• left click on the COPY icon on the top toolbar
• left click on the PASTE icon on the top toolbar
• the copy will be ON TOP of the selected shape

step 2: place the shape

• left click on the shape (on the workspace) > drag the copy to move it to the new location
• while it is still selected, left click on a GREEN thread color on the thread color toolbar (at the bottom)

Now, you will have a 4 squares:

And this is how your sequence view looks:

Digitizing Order #5 – copy and paste the shapes

Now you can copy and paste ALL 4 squares to create 8 squares for this sample design.

Here is how to do that:

step 1: copy and paste the shape

• in the sequence view, left click on ALL ITEMS (at the top) to select it ALL the shapes at one time
• left click on the COPY icon on the top toolbar
• left click on the PASTE icon on the top toolbar
• the copies will be ON TOP of the selected shapes

step 2: place the shape

• left click on the shapes (on the workspace) > drag the copy to move it to the new location

Now, you will have a 8 squares:

 

And here is the sequence view:

When looking at the sequence view, you can see that the SAME red thread color will be stitching 2x. But there will be 3 other color changes in between.

It would be more efficient if:

• BOTH red shapes stitched one after the other.
• BOTH blue shapes stitched one after the other
• BOTH yellow shapes stitched one after the other
• and BOTH green shapes stitched one after the other

And, stitching a design, on your machine, would be a lot more efficient, if you did not have to stop and change the thread so many times!

There are two ways you can combine the colors:

1. you can manually move each of the colors in the sequence view to combine them or
2. you can use the COLOR SORT feature in FTCU

Here is how to combine and sort the colors:

• in the sequence view, click on ALL ITEMS at the top (all colors will be selected)
• left click on the COLOR SORT icon (on the second toolbar at the top)
• A message box will appear on the screen to tell you how many colors were combined and sorted.
• click OK

Now this is how your sequence view will look:

Note:

There are some instances when you would NOT want to rearrange ALL the colors in the sequence view to color sort them.

This would happen when you need them to stitch in a specific order. For example, if you have 2 green leaves and one leaf is behind the other leaf. The shape in the back obviously needs to stitch first.

Usually FTCU does a good job of recognizing this, but sometimes you have to manually re-edit the stitching order in the sequence view after you have used the color sort.

It is a good practice to use the STITCH PLAYER feature to review how your design sequence will stitch for you.

This will give you a chance to edit the stitching sequence as needed.

You can manually move any of the thread colors in the sequence view by selecting the thread color and left clicking and dragging to rearrange.

I will do a future tutorial explaining more about the stitching sequence and how to edit it.

And, as always, if you have any questions, please send me an email and I will try to help!

 

 

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