Size, position and hoop

The bar above the drawing area shows the selection’s position and size in millimeters. In the Hoop panel you check that the design fits your machine.

Set an exact size

Select the object (or several).
In the top bar, type the width (↔) or height (↕) in mm, or the scale in %.
Keep the lock on to preserve the width-to-height ratio.

X and Y are the position of the selection’s center, in millimeters, from the design’s origin.

Rotate, mirror, align

Mirror horizontally or vertically.
Rotate 15° either way, or type an exact angle and click Rotate.
Skew: tilts the verticals by the angle you type.
With several objects selected: align (left, center, right, top, bottom), space evenly and match width and height. The others align to the last one selected.
Move the selection’s center to the origin (0, 0).

Choose the hoop

In the right panel, under Hoop → Model, choose your machine’s hoop. There are hoops for Brother/Baby Lock, Brother PR, Janome/Elna, Tajima, Barudan and generic ones.
Or click Smallest that fits to have the editor pick the smallest hoop the design fits in.
Read the note below: it tells you how much room is left to the edge or how far the design goes past the field.
Under Position, keep Centered on the design or choose At the origin (0, 0).

Create your own hoop

Open Create my own hoop.
Give it a Name, choose the Shape (rectangular, rounded corners, oval or round) and enter Field width and Field height in mm (10 to 1200 mm).
Click Add. It shows up under My hoops in the list.

Heads up: The hoops you create are stored in this browser. On another computer, create them again.

Rulers, guides and grid

Rulers (R key) show measurements. Drag from a ruler to create a guide line; drag the guide back onto the ruler to delete it.
10 mm grid (G) and Snap to 1 mm grid (E) help with alignment.
Under Fabric, choose the background color to see the contrast with the thread.

Common problems

It says "The design doesn’t fit any hoop in the list".

Make the design smaller or create a hoop with your machine’s embroidery field size under Create my own hoop.

I exported and it said the design goes past the hoop field.

The file was saved, but it may not fit on the machine. Reduce the size, change the hoop or move the design and export again.

After enlarging an imported design, it looks sparse or too dense.

Machine-file designs are fixed stitches: when you resize, the density changes too. Only resize slightly (about 10% to 20%) or use the design’s right size, if there is one.