StitchBuddy

Just a short notice to inform you about StitchBuddy’s most recent update, version 3.4.4 for macOS and iOS.

The internal code for communicating with Apple’s App Store was completely rewritten, e.g. for requesting prices or licenses, performing In-App purchases, and asking for reviews. With this change I was able to remove dependencies to 3^rd party software, which might have caused future issues. As a consequence app requirements have been raised to macOS 12 and iOS / iPadOS 16.

Apple has approved StitchBuddy 3.4.2 for macOS and StitchBuddy HD 3.4.2 for iOS / iPadOS. These versions are mainly introducing improvements when editing DST designs.

These files are encoding a command to trim a thread with some consecutive jump stitches - which are normally combined by StitchBuddy. When this issue was reported I disabled jump optimization for DST files as a quick-fix, leading to erratic leftovers after moving / deleting parts of a design.

Now featuring background images with StitchBuddy for Mac.

These photos or graphics can either improve visual representations of your designs, or act as templates, guiding you when manually creating shapes. A new video tutorial is showing how to set images as backgrounds, and how they serve both purposes.

Today macOS 15 “Sequoia” has started its public beta phase, and StitchBuddy for Mac is joining…

In macOS 15 “Sequoia” Apple is going to drop support for legacy Quick Look plugins (aka “QLGenerators”), and will require new extensions to display file content. For over 16 years StitchBuddy has provided Quick Look previews and thumbnails in macOS, and of course it will continue with Sequoia, even with some improvements:

I just released StitchBuddy 3.3.2 (macOS), addressing some minor bugs and improvements:

• Rulers are indicating dragged mouse positions
• Context menu item to close all open subpaths
• Open subpaths are handled when filling shapes
• SVG paths with identical start / end points are closed
• Feedback if no SVG path was imported
• Quick Look plugin is reflecting thread numbers

The new version will be distributed in waves and automatically updates your Mac (depending on its system settings). And you can manually install it from Apple’s Mac App Store at any time.

Both StitchBuddy apps have been recently updated: StitchBuddy HD 3.3 takes mobile embroidery file management to the next level. Please check out the corresponding video tutorial and learn about new possibilities, e.g. direct access to USB pen drives, so you can transfer designs to your embroidery machine with your iPhone or iPad. I have decided to increase the pricing of “StitchBuddy Pro” on iOS to USD 19.99, reflecting these new capabilities. It’s the first price increase for over ten years, and of course all existing customers will keep their license as is.

Apple has just approved StitchBuddy 3.2.3 which is a small bug fix to improve the import of VP3 designs: On rare occasions threads were still positioned at wrong offsets - a topic already addressed back in 2014 (link). After some extensive testing (including beta testing by the user reporting this issue) I’m confident it’s finally fixed…

Apple has just approved a minor - and of course free - update of StitchBuddy for Mac: While the Gunold Poly thread chart was already waiting for quite a time - it will be added to StitchBuddy HD on iOS in the next release - a reported issue was calling for action: When opening the color picker thread colors were changed unintentionally under rare conditions.

Apple has announced that macOS 14 “Sonoma” will be released September 26th, 2023, and StitchBuddy is well prepared.

It is always tricky to comment on compatibility with new macOS versions before their final releases, but macOS 14 “Sonoma” is now available as a “Release Candidate”, meaning Apple is considering it’s the last beta version.

With StitchBuddy v3.2 some improvements were introduced, especially for working with shapes: Lock stitches can be added before and after jumps to avoid dissolving designs, and the stitch order of a selection can be reverted.