{"id":45897,"date":"2022-08-09T17:00:19","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T00:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/?p=45897"},"modified":"2022-08-11T21:28:54","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T04:28:54","slug":"tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-185","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/2022\/08\/tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-185\/","title":{"rendered":"Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Going Creative with the Stitch Technique<\/strong><\/p>\n

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PDF Version : https:\/\/bit.ly\/3zUIB2y<\/a><\/p>\n

Today I’m going to build on the stitch tutorial from a few weeks ago. I have three more ways to add stitching to your layouts that go beyond vanilla. I’ve played around quite a bit to be sure the instructions are accurate, and you’ll be surprised how easy these new options are. Let’s start out by making sure we have room to work. I opened up a new 12×12 workspace and dropped a paper on it so the stitches – I’ll use white – will be easy to see.<\/p>\n

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Again we’ll use the Text Tool<\/strong> because it has so many options. I’m using Elements 2021<\/strong>; if your version is much older you may not have all of these Tool Options<\/strong>. The option we’re starting with is Text on Shape <\/strong>and we’ll be using the Ellipse<\/strong> to create a circle. My screenshot font is Lumberjack Regular<\/strong> and I’ve used it for two of my samples today. If you have a font with a dash symbol that has a rounded look to it, it’ll work beautifully. Set the font size to at least 40 points<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Drag out a circle on your paper. You can make it as big as you want. It can always be resized later to fit your layout. This outline will tell Elements<\/strong> where to put the dashes and how to position them.<\/p>\n

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Move your mouse until you see the Text Tool cursor<\/strong>. It’ll become visible when you intersect with the edge of the circle and it looks like a swoosh with an I-beam crossing it. Click to set it in play then using the dash and the space bar, type out a long string of stitches. They will move and bend to the shape you’ve created; the dash sits above the baseline, but that won’t really matter.<\/p>\n

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Here you can see what I mean. You can stop when you’ve only gone part way around if you like, or keep going to enclose the circle.<\/p>\n

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Your spaces may or may not uniformly proceed around your circle when you reach the finish line. If this is a concern for you there are a couple of options – start over, adjusting the size of the circle or the font until it’s perfect, or you can accept it and just cover it with a flower or a brad on your layout. If you resize the stitched circle to a smaller version, it’ll be less noticeable.<\/p>\n

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Now to give the stitches some dimension. By using a Bevel Style<\/strong>, you won’t have to add a shadow later! Click the Styles button<\/strong> at the bottom right of the Layers Panel<\/strong>, choose Bevels from the dropdown menu and then choose Simple Emboss<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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These are the default settings for Simple Emboss<\/strong>. You may find them to be too strong. Styles<\/strong> can be adjusted by double-clicking on the\u00a0fx<\/strong> icon on the layer.<\/p>\n

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You can see how just shifting the Size<\/strong> slider to the left makes each stitch a bit flatter.<\/p>\n

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You could stop at this step and have some very nice stitches. But if you’re interested in a bit more realism, that’s pretty easy. First Simplify<\/strong> the text layer by right-clicking on the layer then choosing Simplify Layer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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To make the stitches look a bit more like they’re made of thread and not paint, we can apply a Filter<\/strong>. It needs to go on its own layer though, so click on the sheet-of-paper icon<\/strong> at the top left of the Layers Panel<\/strong>. Then click Filter>Render>Fibers…<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Make sure your foreground colour on the Color Picker<\/strong> is set to a light gray – the filter will be whatever colour you have in the foreground, and red isn’t pleasing! The Filter Options<\/strong> look like this. For the most thready look possible, push those sliders all the way to the right and click Randomize<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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This is what is supposed to happen! Don’t worry. It’ll be fine!! Right-click<\/strong> on that Filter Layer<\/strong> and choose Create Clipping Mask<\/strong> from the menu.<\/p>\n

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Then all that’s left is to adjust the Opacity<\/strong> so that you have the thread effect but not so strongly that it’s distracting.<\/p>\n

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To be sure the stitches and the thready filter stay together, click>SHIFT>click<\/strong> on the layers then right-click and choose Merge Layers<\/strong>. Or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL\/CMD>E<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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If you look closely now that I’ve shrunk my circle, you might<\/em> be able to see the slightly bigger gap between my first and last stitches. Maybe.<\/p>\n

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Okay, now let’s try something a bit more out there. This time, I chose Text on Path<\/strong> from the Text Tool Options<\/strong>. See the Draw icon<\/strong>? It turns the cursor into a pen, a fountain pen… and you’re only limited by your wrist’s flexibility and the size of your mousepad!<\/p>\n

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I clicked on my paper to tell the cursor to get to work, then drew a simple swirl. It looks pretty smooth, so I don’t need to Modify<\/strong> it. But if I did, the Modify icon<\/strong> will give me the necessary tools.<\/p>\n

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To get the stitches to conform to the swirl and extend from one end of the line to the other, I discovered I needed to click my cursor as close to the center of the line as possible.<\/p>\n

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This time I went ahead and Simplified<\/strong> before adding the Bevel<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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You may not have ever explored the More<\/strong> button down there at the bottom of the Layers Panel<\/strong>. I just happen to know there’s a Simple Emboss<\/strong> under the Favorites<\/strong> tab.<\/p>\n

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This time I changed the Lighting Angle <\/strong>as well as the Size<\/strong>. Always make sure your Lighting Angle<\/strong> matches your shadows; there might be a visible incongruence that will bother you otherwise.<\/p>\n

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On to the thready Filter<\/strong>… but only if you want to!<\/p>\n

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This time I left the Filter<\/strong> a little darker.<\/p>\n

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The last sample looks like it’s the most complicated, but it’s not. Let’s use the Custom Shape Tool<\/strong> and drag out a nice 5 pointed star. Don’t forget to Simplify<\/strong>, because you won’t be able to manipulate it otherwise.<\/p>\n

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Next, I chose Text on Selection<\/strong>. I made sure it was set to Add<\/strong> – meaning wherever the cursor was dragged would be part of the Selection<\/strong>. It doesn’t have to be precise, just click inside the shape and drag the cursor to the edges. The marching ants will snap to the edges automatically.<\/p>\n

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Once you’ve got the edges Selected<\/strong>, Commit the Action<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Choose a logical starting point, like the inner angle of one of the points. Click<\/strong> to activate the Type Tool<\/strong> and start typing. I switched the font to Impact Regular<\/strong> and used the period instead of the dash. As I typed, the stitches moved along both sides of the star until they met at the top.<\/p>\n

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Don’t forget to Simplify<\/strong> the text layer!<\/p>\n

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I tried all the Bevel Styles<\/strong> to see which one worked best with the period-style stitches. It turned out to be Simple Scallop<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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If you squint, these look almost like cross stitch!<\/p>\n

PDF Version : https:\/\/bit.ly\/3zUIB2y<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I hope you’ll give one or more of these a try. If there’s something you’d like me to build a tutorial for, you can leave me a comment here on the Blog<\/strong>, or send me a Private Message<\/strong> through the Forum – <\/strong>user name is ObiJanKenobi. Next Tuesday I’ll be doing a Challenge Spotlight<\/strong>. Stay tuned!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Going Creative with the Stitch Technique PDF Version : https:\/\/bit.ly\/3zUIB2y Today I’m going to build on the stitch tutorial from a few weeks ago. I have three more ways to add stitching to your layouts that go beyond vanilla. I’ve played around quite a bit to be sure the instructions are accurate, and you’ll be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[229,102,284,92,62],"tags":[373],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 23:59:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"private","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45897"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45897"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45968,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45897\/revisions\/45968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}