SophieSew Tutorial 1 by adamlhumphreys

Watch

View here! [link]
Second tutorial here: [link]

The embroidery program you love to hate.

But really, version 2 will be awesome!

I just hope it stays free.

With donations of course!

So, how does one use SophieSew? Well, I try to cover most of the basics in this first tutorial.

Second tutorial deviation:

richheer Featured By Owner Jan 30, 2017

I am waiting.

Altraion100 Featured By Owner Feb 27, 2015

Hi, thank you for your tutorial. I got a problem at the very beginning. When I used "create an image" and want to use the "right click on the frame" it doesn't work on my PC

Neither with the included right click pad, nor with an USB mouse. Do you know what's wrong with that?

adamlhumphreys Featured By Owner Feb 27, 2015 Professional General Artist

Ehh, try the edge of the frame. Sometimes you have to get it just right.

Maple-Stardust Featured By Owner Jan 30, 2015 Hobbyist Digital Artist

My biggest hope for version two (besides being free), is it crashing less often. Gosh darned SophieSew.

adamlhumphreys Featured By Owner Jan 30, 2015 Professional General Artist

I don't think that'll be a problem.

But yeah, it's hard to encourage people to donate toward something of which the only current version that exists crashes so much.

Maple-Stardust Featured By Owner Jan 30, 2015 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Pretty much my thoughts! I save frequently so it's not really detrimental to my work or anything, but gosh if it isn't annoying. But it's still pretty great, so high hopes for the newer version!

adamlhumphreys Featured By Owner Jan 30, 2015 Professional General Artist

Absolutely!

Undo will be nice too.

At least the more you use it to understand it's nuances, the less likely it is to crash. At least that's been my experience, but funky stuff still happens.

Maple-Stardust Featured By Owner Jan 30, 2015 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Oh yes, undo would be heavenly. I've had to resort to closing the program every time I mess up, rather tedious!
I've just started using it myself; and while it's easy enough to get the hang of, still learning what makes everything crash. I'll get there eventually, though.
Also, the ability to use the text function will be just fantastic.

adamlhumphreys Featured By Owner Jan 30, 2015 Professional General Artist

True, but the more you use it, the less mistakes you make.

... Sometimes... ^^'
No doubt. All I've done for text is trace my hand writing and break it up. But it's cursive, so I wouldn't expect that to be embroidered well even with a text tool.

Maple-Stardust Featured By Owner Jan 31, 2015 Hobbyist Digital Artist

I'd imagine so!
I've only digitized text once, and it took forever to do; it was extremely tedious to complete, but I think it'll look nice when embroidered. Who knows! I guess we'll just have to wait and see. ^^

anbornet Featured By Owner Dec 24, 2014 Hobbyist General Artist

So is it safe to down load. Do you make your designs in SophieSew or can you import from an image created in windows paint for example?

adamlhumphreys Featured By Owner Dec 24, 2014 Professional General Artist

Well, I've been using it with no problem. ^^ Other than occasional crashing.
I always import a image, mainly JPG, to use as a guide for the actual embroidery design.

anbornet Featured By Owner Dec 25, 2014 Hobbyist General Artist

Thanks. will it put the design into a .pes or .dst format?

adamlhumphreys Featured By Owner Dec 25, 2014 Professional General Artist

.dst, which works, you just have to wait for the machine to load it after you select it. Now, version 2 will support .pes.

If it ever releases.

Chiromaniac1351 Featured By Owner Mar 5, 2014

What stitch do you use for underlay and for the fill stitch? What density do you use? I'm having a hard time getting it right! It is either too tight and puckers or too thick and causes the thread to bunch up.

adamlhumphreys Featured By Owner Mar 6, 2014 Professional General Artist

Usually the default underlay, but I decrease the margin from .5 to .2. Density depends on the part and the color of fabric to be embroidered on, but usually 5.5 up to 7 stitches per mm. (A strange oddity though, in can be dramatically increased in the layer order window.) Stitch pitch is important too, which I keep consistently at 5mm. But really whatever finally works, and thread tension is important too. Someone found that decreasing it to 3 works best for them whereas I work at 6. Whatever you do, once you get what you like, keep your designs and machine settings consistent.

PrettyKitty Featured By Owner Sep 9, 2015 Hobbyist General Artist

I was just about to ask you what you typically used for density settings and found this comment. I gave these settings a try and my design looks awesome. Thank you!

adamlhumphreys Featured By Owner Sep 9, 2015 Professional General Artist

That's why the comments stay put for all to see!

Now if only version 2 beta could finally release.

At least I was thankful to hear it's still being developed, even if slower than anyone would expect is still better than nothing. It's not like the premise of the technology is going to change anytime soon.

PrettyKitty Featured By Owner Sep 10, 2015 Hobbyist General Artist

Yes, I'm definitely looking forward to an updated and hopefully less crashy SophieSew.

GerryER Featured By Owner Oct 1, 2013

I tried downloading Sophiesew, but once downloaded and I try to install it, I get a "corrupt file" message. I have tried downloading several times with the same results. Is there any other way to get the software to try?

Eyeheartz0rd Featured By Owner May 21, 2013 Hobbyist Artist

I got an embroidery machine for my birthday, and just got sophiewsew.
It's SO complicated... plus the tutorials on the official website need to be re-downloaded each time you want to see them and you can't pause/rewind.
Thanks for these tuts!
For some reason though, my sophiesew doesn't do the same stuff as you :/

adamlhumphreys Featured By Owner May 21, 2013 Professional General Artist

Awesome!

Well, it is complicated when starting out for sure. However, when I first opened Stitch Era Universal, (which was free until they turned and said "it will now cost you money!"), it was overwhelming.

Thankfully I never got into it. SophieSew might be buggy, but at least it's completely free with no strings attached.

The official tutorials are a little lacking. I really need to remake these tutorials, but I want to wait until he finally releases version 2.

Huh, that sounds strange. What version of SophieSew are you using?

Eyeheartz0rd Featured By Owner May 21, 2013 Hobbyist Artist

I think I'm using 1.13?
And I jus understood that I can press the space bar to pause the tutorial...haha.
I'm slowly getting the hang of it though, and I just finished my first little pattern which hopefully will work...
I don't even anything.

adamlhumphreys Featured By Owner May 21, 2013 Professional General Artist

Well, that's the only available version I know of. ^^

Awesome! It'll take a bit to get used to. And even then, for every change you make to the thread tension, the thread you use, and the stabilizer you use, things can change.

wolframradii Featured By Owner Dec 22, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

You're using it to suggest the way how you will embroider the things on the plushihes?
It looks like it's a hard to work with programme, but maybe just because I do not know how to use it.