Decorative Curved edges as easy as ABC

Add decorative edges is as easy as ABC

Creating a decorative edge to curves can easily be achieved in Studio by adding some text to a path.

Open studio and create a curved shape to practice on, I drew a quick oval.

For this example, I am going to use "o"s to create an edge on my piece.

Select the text tool from the tools on the left and click anywhere on your virtual mat and type in a number of "o"s. At the start of the letters, you will notice a circle with a + in it.

Click on to this circle and drag it onto the line of your oval (you will need to hold down on the mouse button while you do this).

As soon as the circle comes in contact with your oval the letters will jump onto the line of the curve.

Note the bar with the dark slider. By moving this slider, we can affect where the letters sit on the line. I am going to set my letters with the letters half way on the line.

Having positioned the letters on the line we can add some more letters to better fill the shape. By changing the character spacing between the letters we can create a different look. Decreasing the space will mean you may need to add a few extra letters and likewise increasing the space may mean you need to delete some.

With all your letters selected on the mat move over to the tool window on the right and change the character spacing either use the slider or type in a new value into the box. The effect happens in real time and I find moving the slider a much easier option. 

If you have chosen to decrease the spacing between the letters you will need to add some extra "o"s to complete your shape again. To do this click anywhere in the line of letters and the Add text will become active again allowing you to type again. Fill your shape with letters. You may want to go back and change the spacing again to get a perfect fit.

In the end, I moved my spacing to 70.7 to get an even space which isn't a value I would have typed, I would have used the slider until it looks even.

Now we have created a design we like we want it to stay in this way. Select all the letters and use fill to fill in your letters to be solid shapes.

 We click on the letters to select them as a shape. Right click on the mouse and a menu will pop up allowing us to tell the software this is the path that we want the letters to follow without having the "map" of the guiding oval. Click convert to path. We can now move the new shape from the guide oval we drew at the start. Fill the oval the same color as the letters.

Increase the size of the oval so that when placed over the "o" it creates the desired mat. I have used a different fill color to help you see the overlap.

With both shapes selected center the two shapes using the align tool indicated in the image above.

Now your shapes are centered use the weld tool at the bottom let to weld the two shapes together to make one piece. You now have a scalloped edged oval. 

Now you know the process, why not have a go using different letters and fonts to create different effects. 

Happy crafting.