Drawing seam lines and cutting applique shapes on the ScanNCut SDX225

In my January QUILTsocial post, I showed you how to draw words on paper and fabric, and yesterday, how to draw an embroidery design on fabric. But the drawing feature on the Brother ScanNCut SDX225 can also be used to draw seam lines on pieced or appliqued blocks. If you like to make blocks or applique by hand, this is perfect for you!

Applique pieces cut out with drawn seam line

Here’s how to do it!

1. From the main pattern screen, select the Sunbonnet Sue icon. This opens up a whole collection of applique designs.

Sunbonnet Sue icon opens the applique library

For this tutorial, I chose the flower design AP-A017.

Select flower design AP-A017

 2. You can change the size by pressing the + or – keys.

Change the size by selecting the + or – keys

3. Press OK and you’ll see all the design elements of the applique design.

Individual sections of the design on the screen

4. Select the shapes you want, and they appear on the design screen. The screen shows that you need 5 petals for this design, and when you press Set, they all show up on the screen.

Screen shows size of each piece and how many are needed

After pressing Set, all sections show up on the screen.

5. Select Edit, then Select All, and Group All, to keep all the design elements together.

Choose Select All to select all design elements.

Choose Group All to keep all design elements together.

6. Select Seam Allowance On. The seam allowance can be any size you like but I’ll use the standard ¼” seam allowance.

Choose Seam Allowance On.

Seam allowance can be adjusted by using the arrow keys.

7. Because all the design elements are grouped together, the seam allowance will be applied to all of them at the same time.

Seam allowance added to all pieces

8. Keep touching the OK key until you get back to the home screen.

9. Select Draw from the home menu. Put the blue water-erasable marker in the pen holder and put the holder into the machine. This pen is one from the set that comes with the Brother ScanNCut SDX225. If you need to purchase more drawing or erasable pens, they are readily available, along with many other supplies, on the Brother website.

Blue water-erasable marking pen

10. Place your fabric on the Brother Fabric mat. Scan the mat so you can see your fabric on the screen. Ungroup the design elements and use the stylus or your finger to move them around on the screen so they fit on the fabric you’ve scanned.

11. Press Draw and the Brother ScanNCut SDX225 will draw the stitching lines for each shape on the fabric.

A seam line is drawn for each shape.

12. Leave the mat with the fabric in the ScanNCut and change to the fabric cutting blade.

13. Choose Cut from the menu and all the shapes will be cut out for you. Isn’t that amazing!

The seam line is drawn, and the pieces are cut out.

You can use this technique with any of the pieced or appliqued designs in the Brother ScanNCut SDX225, or you can scan your own designs and save them in the machine.

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about the wonderful things you can do with the Brother ScanNCut SDX225 electronic cutting machine. Be sure to look back on some of my earlier QUILTsocial posts for even more tips and techniques!

This is part 5 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 4: Drawing designs with the Brother ScanNCut SDX225

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