During Thursday’s Facebook Live session, several viewers expressed an interest in making the January Door in a 5” x 7” hoop. I mentioned you can resize the design to fit your hoop. If you do not have embroidery software, you can download our free embroidery software, Embroidery Tool Shed, just click here. 
Embroidery Tool Shed allows you to resize (and recalculate the number of stitches), copy, paste, mirror image and more. Once you download and install the software, click the Embroidery Tool Shed icon on your desktop, and click on Open a Design. Locate the January Door design, select the .C2S version and click Open.
Click on the Select tool. The Select tool is a red arrow, circled in green below. Select the design by holding down the left mouse button and dragging the cursor over the design. You will know it is selected when the design is all blue with a boundary box around it.
To resize, click on the Transform tab in the Properties Box.
Change the height to 7”. Since there is a check mark in the Maintain aspect ratio, the software automatically resizes the entire design keeping the original proportions. You’ll also notice there is a check mark in the Regenerate stitches box, that ensures stitches are removed when a design is shrunk and added when a design is enlarged. Always keep that box checked. Click Apply. 
The design now measures 4.30” x 7.01”. The size is displayed at the top of the screen.
If you want to completely fill your 5” x 7” hoop, you will lose the original proportion. Follow the next steps to see the results. It’s best to start with the original 6” x 10” file. Go to File, Open and locate the original January Door.c2s file.
Select the design, remove the check mark from Maintain aspect ration box and enter 5” in the width box and 7” in the height. Click Apply.
The design will fill the hoop but be a bit wider than the original. If you like it, use it! Regardless of the size you choose, go to File, Save As and save the newly-sized January Door as JD_Small in the appropriate format for your machine. Send the design to your machine and you’re ready to stitch!
Before you move to the machine, I suggest getting familiar with this handy, free software. – you’ll find many uses for it. Just click on the shopping cart in the lower right corner of the screen (red arrow below) and click on the ellipse next to Embroidery Tool Shed (green arrow below). You’ll be taken to 10 tutorial videos on YouTube by Inspiration’s Educational Consultant Ashley Jones. Watch each one to learn how to get the most out of Embroidery Tool Shed.
Click on the Redraw tool, and notice the underlay that’s automatically added to the complex fill. Below is a screen capture of the underlay only.
Serious machine embroiderers never let hoop size hold them back. When they think big, they stitch big. But that doesn’t mean they have to have a big hoop. No, they just need the right software and some handy notions (okay, the notions are optional but really helpful!) to get the job done. Here’s how to do it.
Wasn’t that easy? I often approach splitting designs with a bit of intimidation but I’ve learned if I take my time and pay attention to the details (like aligning the fabric with the laser crosshair), the results come out as planned.Splitting designs is very rewarding – people will think you’re an embroidery rock star!
