Guide
Every embroidery design is built from a handful of stitch families: runs for lines, satin for borders and lettering, and fills for large areas — plus decorative variants. Stichii ships 58 stitch types across those four families, and this page explains what each one is for.
A running stitch is a single line of needle penetrations — the simplest stitch, used for outlines, detail lines, and travel. A satin stitch lays thread back and forth across a column to make a smooth, glossy band; it is what borders, monograms, and small lettering are made of. A fill (tatami or step) covers a large area with rows of running stitch offset in a brick pattern so the surface stays flat and stable.
Decorative stitches — cross stitch, motif, spiral, candlewicking — are patterned variants used for texture rather than coverage. The rule of thumb: run for lines, satin for anything under about 10 mm wide, fill for anything wider.
Satin stitches longer than roughly 10 mm snag and loosen — the thread has nothing holding it down across that span. Once a column gets wider than that, switch it to a fill so the needle penetrations anchor the thread across the area. Narrow shapes, borders, and lettering stay satin.
In Stichii you can change an object from satin to fill (or back) at any time and the stitches regenerate immediately, so you can try both and look at the preview rather than guessing.
Stitch length is the distance between needle penetrations. Too long and the thread floats and snags; too short and you punch the same area repeatedly, which stiffens the fabric and can cut it. Typical fill stitch length is 3–4 mm; detail runs go shorter.
Stichii clamps stitch length and density so a bad value cannot produce a design that never finishes or destroys the fabric, and the validation panel flags objects whose settings are out of sane range.
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