Affinity Designer - Wrapping Straight Stitching/String Around a Shape/Curve

When I created this layout, I took a straight stitching element from Gina Miller's kit and shaped it to a curve for the bottom title piece.


In this Affinity Designer tutorial I'm going to show you how to take a straight piece of stitching or string or thin ribbon etc from a kit and bend it around a shape or along a curve.

For this tutorial I am going to use a length of stitching from A Stitch in Time: Lengths by Lynn Grieveson.

I am also going to use a piece of string from Spell It! Plastic Beads by Kim Jensen.


First we need to turn the length of stitching/string into an image brush. I like to have a special temporary category that is for these image brushes. I can delete the brushes later when I've finished with them, or leave my favourites for future use.

To create a new brushes category

• open the brushes tab
• click on the 3 horizontal lines in the right hand corner of the tab to open the drop down menu
• Select Create New Category

To create an image brush

• open the brushes tab - choose your category. Mine is called FromKits
• click on the 3 horizontal lines in the right hand corner of the tab to open the drop down menu
• Select New Textured Image Brush
• Use the diaglog to locate the stitching/string element

To wrap a row of stitching around a shape
I'm using the element lgrieveson_stitch_in_time-6.png from A Stitch in Time: Lengths by Lynn Grieveson.

1. Draw your shape (I chose to draw an ellipse)
2. Select your image brush
3. Adjust the stroke width

Here I have placed the original element on the page for comparison.


To add a length of string to a curve.
I'm using the element KimJensen_SpellIt_braid-bluegreen.png from Spell It! Plastic Beads by Kim Jensen.

1. Draw your curve (I chose to draw a simple curve)
2. Select your image brush
3. Adjust the stroke width
4. Ensure that the line fill colour is empty.

If there is a colour selected, then it will apply it to your curve.


For more on creating custom shapes see: Affinity Designer - Using Custom Shapes
For details on drawing curves see: Affinity Tutorial - text on a Path

 

hello @gonewiththewind here's another tutorial.

 

thank you