Last updated on February 5th, 2024 at 02:56 pm
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Affinity Designer released an update in May 2023, called version 2.1. But, is the Affinity Designer 2.1 update good for sewing?
The update is free to anyone who owns Affinity Designer 2 desktop or iPad.
While not all of the updates are particularly useful for sewing, they are all great improvements. I found that the guideline updates are going to be especially useful for the pattern alterations that I do.
So, let’s dive into the updates that will affect the sewing users!
Affinity Designer 2.1 Upgrade for Desktop
Guide Improvements
The guide improvements in Affinity Designer 2.1 are, in my opinion, the most useful for sewing purposes! I regularly use guidelines to measure horizontal and vertical distances for adding/subtracting height, spreading patterns, and more.
Before, you had to manually move the guideline to the marking on the ruler you needed. Now you can simply add a guideline and type in the numerical location!
To open the guide manager dialogue box, simply double-click on an existing guide. The manager dialogue box will open.
You can add or delete guides and click on the numerical value and type in your specific value for a guide line.
Copy a guide by holding Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac, iPad) and clicking on the guide.
You will also see a value for the distance in relation to where the guideline started and in relation to the ruler!
You can also delete guidelines when you are finished by pressing Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac, iPad) and clicking on the line.
Balanced Dash Lines
If you like using dash lines in your patterns or items that you add to a pattern, you might find this update useful. It has more to do with the aesthetics of the dashed lines.
You can now use a button for “balanced” dashed lines that make the corners and line joints look well put together.
You can also use the dashed line setting to change the look and spacing on the dashes.
Move Tool Select Options
The move tool got an update with more options on how to select objects. When the move tool is selected, these options are located in the context toolbar.
I usually leave “auto” select on because this will select objects. However, you may want to turn this off when you are on the iPad or navigating around the artboard and you do not want to select any objects.
The “default” select setting is the one I use most often. This will select an individual group or item.
The “objects” selection will select objects, but not anything in a group.
You can also use “group” this will only select items that are in a group. This works even when the group is under an individual item.
Alt Drag to Duplicate Layers
Alt-drag to duplicate layers is a shortcut that was added to the layers panel. With a layer selected, you can now press and hold Alt (Windows) or Opt (Mac, iPad) and drag to duplicate the layer. This may be useful if you are making pattern alterations to a size layer and want to duplicate the entire size layer.
This way you can make changes to one layer and still have the original layer to refer to. This also saves you from duplicating each pattern piece before making changes.
Alt-Click to Expand and Collapse Layers
While I don’t find this particularly useful for sewing yet, some of you may enjoy this feature. You can now use Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac, iPad) to click on the layer and expand or collapse everything under it.
The little arrows under the layer will also expand and collapse the first nested objects under the layers. Patterns rarely go three steps or more deep in a layer. For this reason, I haven’t found this tool necessary for sewing purposes.
How to View and Customize Tools
Ever feel like you are missing tools that you see available in tutorials? While this is not a new update, I felt like it was a good reminder!
You can customize the tools visible on the left toolbar. Go to View>Customize tools. In this menu, you will find all the available tools. There is no need to include tools on the toolbar that you will not frequently use, but it’s important to know where to find them all!
If you are new to using Affinity Designer for Sewing, please take a look at the tutorials available HERE.
*There are a few updates that I didn’t go over here because they don’t apply to sewing purposes. If you’d like to read the notes on the complete updates, you can do so HERE.
Affinity Designer 2.1 Upgrade for iPad
If you are an iPad user, you are going to be very happy with version 2.1. Affinity Designer for iPad now looks and feels a lot like the desktop version!
iPad received all of the updates listed above for the desktop version. Use the command toggle or a keyboard to access all of the modifiers.
Along with the updates listed above, the biggest updates include the addition of rulers, guides now available, and double-tap pencil for quick menu access.
If you are new to using Affinity Designer iPad for projector sewing, make sure to look at Affinity Designer for iPad: Get Started.
How Do I Get the Affinity Designer 2.1 Update?
To get this FREE update from Affinity Designer, you should be prompted to update when you open the program on your desktop or iPad. Just accept and the download will begin.
However, if you are having issues, you can take a look at this article on how to get the upgrade download.
Conclusion
Affinity Designer is continuing to improve and is a great resource for pattern alterations and projector sewing! These updates are free to anyone who owns Affinity Designer 2. The Affinity Designer 2.1 Update is great for sewing and will only improve your experience!
Remember we have a growing library of tutorials for Affinity Designer 2 for Sewing. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the update! Leave a comment below!
