Stitchboard Admin message #2
new to designing patterns
January 1, 2016 at 4:50:58 PM  (in response to justshani message #1)
 
Shannon,

Welcome! 

Thank you kindly...that's exactly what we set out to do, to teach, learn and share! 

I'm sorry to say it would be a bit difficult at this point to use a specific shape, such as a stocking.  We plan to eventually have a lot more tools available, but getting them enabled will take some time.  (We have one programmer, who we keep chained to the desk 24/7.  So far he's okay about it, but eventually we may have a revolt on our hands.  )  Seriously, it does take a bit of time to get new features going.

So for now, the freePatternWizard will only produce square/rectangular patterns.  If your image isn't very complex, I would say to perhaps put it in a stocking shape, where you'd ignore anything to the right of a certain line you could create for your stocking shape in a graphics program.  As far as the size, though, you can't use the freePatternWizard to resize your image...that would have to be done with a graphics program, as well.  The freePatternWizard can't really optimize an image...in other words, if you're trying to take a large original image and make it one tenth of the size, that means the program can only choose one pixel out of every 10, which will distort your image.  This is why we say to do the work prior to that, using a graphics program.

As for the type of fabric, the choice is up to you, which is why we don't give exact sizes, so you can determine the size you want.  The counts in any pattern you generate with the freePatternWizard are dependent on the size of the cloth you're using, so if it's 14 count Aida, it will be 14 stitches to the inch.  For instance, if your pattern is 70 stitches x 70 stitches, your finished design will be 5 inches x 5 inches.  (You would divide the 70 by 14 to get 5 inches.)  For someone using 11 count Aida, that would be 6.3 inches x 6.3 inches.  If the fabric were 18 count, the finished pattern would be roughly 3.9 inches x 3.9 inches.  So the different counts/sizes will vary depending on choice. 

If you don't have a graphics program, I would suggest using one of two very powerful free ones.  One is Gimp, available here:
http://www.gimp.org/
The other is Paint.net, available here:
http://www.getpaint.net/index.html

Also, you'll have an easier time with gif or png images.  Jpg images can be used; however, they'll tend to be smudgy due to the fact that jpgs aren't a really good source of stable images.

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