{"id":6831,"date":"2024-07-09T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/?p=6831"},"modified":"2025-07-19T10:18:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T14:18:07","slug":"type-a-stitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/type-a-stitch\/","title":{"rendered":"Type A Stitch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As I mentioned in last week\u2019s post about stitches<\/a><\/strong>, stitching elements add an additional layer of interest to our layouts. They are particularly useful as a way to anchor one thing to another. They can be used to just add extra touches to things like on ephemera or photo frames. They are also a great way to create a border or divider on your page. Truthfully, they can be used for just about anything you like!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week I talked exclusively about using brushes to create stitching. Did you know that in addition to brushes, you can also create a stitch with text? Type stitches by using a simple hyphen or one of several other characters: the equal sign, the plus sign, the asterisk, a lowercase x or v, a capital T, the ~ character, the forward and backward \u201cslash\u201d characters, or even the > or < characters. Those last two can be used alternately for an interesting look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though you likely have stitches in some of the kits you\u2019ve already purchased, you might really want to create your own custom designed stitching\u2026and maybe not always in a straight line. Today\u2019s post is going to be about how to \u201ctype\u201d your very own, unique stitching\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Texting Stitches<\/h3>\n\n\n
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\"Stitches<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

If all you want is a straight line of stitches it\u2019s a simple matter to just create a line of stitches using one of the above-mentioned characters & typing with the standard Horizontal Type tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019d be surprised at how many basic \u201chand stitching\u201d stitches can be replicated with the right font at the right settings. All but a very few of the ones shown below can be created with a font:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Basic<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I think the Horizontal Type tool, is pretty self-explanatory and easy to figure out. All you have to do is pick a font, a character and then just type your stitching. The \u201ctrick\u201d to getting the text to line up like stitches is all in the font “type”, size and tracking. By playing with all of those it\u2019s fairly easy to replicate most of the stitches shown above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the stitch patterns shown above will require having multiple stitch layers in order to replicate the look. But that too is pretty easy. I\u2019ll briefly explain how to replicate this pattern:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Cross<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Select the Horizontal Text tool and pick your font. Just type a line of capital Xs. You will need to adjust the tracking (using a negative setting) to ensure the Xs touch each other or are at least VERY close to touching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next select the Horizontal Text tool again. You\u2019ll normally want to use the exact same font as the one for the Xs. Then type a line of underscores until the line is as long as your row of Xs. PSE will automatically place this text on a \u201cnew\u201d layer which is exactly what needs to happen. For this \u201cline\u201d your tracking can typically be set to 0 (zero) when using the underscore character. In some cases, you may need to adjust the tracking if you want your \u201cstraight line\u201d edges to be flush with each end of the Xs. Or you can just re-size the line after you\u2019ve closed the text box\u2026whichever is easiest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you\u2019re happy with the straight line, position it over the top of the Xs exactly where you want it. Then just duplicate that straight line layer and move it to the bottom of the Xs. Here\u2019s mine:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Pink<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

If you plan to apply a style to these stitches, I recommend placing the layers for the straight lines beneath the Xs layer. This will tend to make the stich look more natural.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how easy was that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are three other text tools in Photoshop Elements (PSE) that work great when you want something other than a straight line: Text on Selection, Text on Shape & Text on Custom Path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Text on Custom Path will be the focus of today\u2019s post. I\u2019ll be showing you some examples for each of the other two over the next couple of weeks. It\u2019s summer here in the US and I\u2019m trying to keep my posts a bit shorter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Text on Custom Path<\/h3>\n\n\n
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\"Stitch<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A quick reminder before I go further…I use the current version of PSE (2024). Some of my screen shots may look different than what you see on your screen depending on the version you are using.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:<\/strong> If you\u2019re using a version of PSE that\u2019s older than PSE 2010, I don\u2019t believe you have this option so you might want to skip this post and come back next week to learn about Text On Shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you likely know by now, I typically choose to work on a transparent 12\u00d712 canvas, since it\u2019s my preferred layout size. But today I\u2019m actually going to just pull in a piece of denim paper from my stash (not sure from where or by whom):<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Denim<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

You can see there\u2019s a pocket on this denim and it only shows stitching across the top of the pocket. I want to change that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re following along you can accomplish the same results without using a piece of paper with a pocket. You can choose to just make your stitching on a blank canvas following the same steps I\u2019m about to show you. And there\u2019s no reason this can\u2019t be accomplished on a smaller or larger scale, so do what suits you best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve been reading my posts for any length of time at all, you know I like to keep things like brushes, paint and yes, stitches, on their own layer. So, I\u2019m going to start by adding a new blank layer above the denim layer. I name this new layer “Stitching”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, I\u2019m going to try and pick a nice color from the pocket\u2019s existing stitching so my \u201ctyped\u201d stitches at least sort of match. The color I selected ended up being a medium shade of orange (#de8b32).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now for the tricky part\u2026at least for me. It\u2019s time to draw that custom path. I don\u2019t know about you, but this is often a daunting task for me. I\u2019ve always had a horrible time digitally drawing any non-straight line that didn\u2019t end up looking more jagged than smooth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it certainly is tough to get curves that look natural. I\u2019ve often wondered if it is because I\u2019m older and my hands aren\u2019t as steady as they used to be. Or perhaps it\u2019s more a matter of my declining dexterity due to Rheumatoid Arthritis. Either way, creating a \u201cclean\u201d text path in any instance is a bit of a challenge for me. But that\u2019s why we have the \u201cModify\u201d feature \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving on\u2026I select the Text tool and then select the Text on Custom Path tool (or press T):<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Text<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Note:<\/strong> When you hover over the tool PSE displays the name as \u201cText on a Custom Path\u201d. But when you look in the tool options area it merely says \u201cText on Path\u201d. I\u2019m only pointing that out as I didn\u2019t want you to be confused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can see the color I\u2019ve selected is already there, the font is set to Georgia Regular (which I believe is a default when starting with a new document). I have set the size to 40pt and ensured that the Draw option is selected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For what I\u2019m doing I can use just about any font that includes the hyphen character. Though I do recommend that you stick with a fairly basic sans serif font. You certainly don\u2019t want a \u201ccockeyed\u201d stitch. At least not in most cases \ud83d\ude09 Regardless, I\u2019m fine with the Georgia font.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, I just drag the tool (looks like an old \u201cfountain pen\u201d tip with a string attached). And if you don\u2019t know what a fountain pen is\u2026you\u2019re much, much, much younger than I \ud83d\ude0a Anyway, I drug the tool only part way around just to keep this a bit simpler for now:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Denim<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I then click the check-mark to confirm I\u2019ve completed the path. You can see the path is jagged in more than a few spots. But I can fix that. I select the Modify tool (it may say Refine in older versions of PSE). It is also often referred to as the \u201cDirect Selection Tool”:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Modify<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what the path looks like after selecting Modify:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Modify<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

All of those little \u201cdots\u201d or nodes you now see all along the path are \u201cAnchor Points\u201d. In case you don\u2019t know about anchor points, I\u2019d love to tell you to check a tutorial or two. Unfortunately, I\u2019ve not had good luck finding one that pertains specifically to anchor points in PSE. The best I can do is offer you these few quick notes from the Adobe Help Center:<\/p>\n\n\n\n