Fabric

Ground

Set the cloth under your design: a woven ground with its weave, density and thread height, or a cloth that relies on its construction.

Current release: Matelume 2.0 · 30 October 2026

The ground is the cloth under your design: every part you did not raise in What stands up. It shows in the open cloth, in the gaps between stitches, and in the stitch types that are cloth themselves (Quilted, Vermicelli and Pleats). The weave never sits on a thread, knot, loop, bead or sequin.

Before this step the 3D view shows the cloth without a weave. From Ground on, it shows the weave you set here.

The cloth

Two cards at the top decide where the cloth's surface comes from:

• A woven ground (the default): pick its weave, how dense it is and how high its threads stand. Weave, Density and Thread height appear only with this card.
• Rely on the construction: no weave of its own. The construction you pick next (velvet, chenille, silk, suede or cotton) gives the cloth its surface from a real scan, and you continue past Construction only once one is picked. Your raised parts and stitches stay as they are. Raised-design-only constructions such as Cut velvet are not offered for this route.

Weave

Pick the weave closest to your fabric. Each card has a picture of it.

• Plain weave: over one, under one, like calico, poplin and most cotton.
• Twill: diagonal ribs, like denim, gabardine and drill.
• Satin weave: long smooth floats with a soft sheen, like sateen.
• Basket weave: pairs of threads woven together, like hopsack and oxford.
• Herringbone: a twill that turns back and forth in bands.
• Linen: a plain weave with uneven, slubbed threads.

Density

Threads per cm runs from 8 to 60. The value next to it reads, for example, "20 per cm · a thread every 0.50 mm". More threads make a finer cloth.

The best number is the real one: count the threads in 1 cm of your fabric. As a guide, the hint on screen gives fine cotton 30 to 50, linen 15 to 25 and canvas 8 to 15.

Thread height

Under Thread height, the Height slider sets how high the threads stand, from 0.010 to 0.150 mm. Higher makes the weave read deeper. The hint suggests about 0.05 mm for most cloth; coarse canvas and linen can go higher.

What you see while you work

The picture shows the Live weave · true scale: drag to move the light, scroll to zoom. It follows at once while you drag a slider or pick a weave, and it draws the export's own weave. The real maps shows Colour, Normal, Roughness and Height, and Live weave brings the live view back. When you pick a weave or let go of a slider, the real maps are rebuilt and the 3D view follows a moment later.

The weave is laid at true scale, so the threads per centimetre you set are the ones in the export. It stays seamless at any density.

How Ground works with the next steps

• Height lifts your raised parts above this cloth.
• In Stitching, the cloth shows where real stitches would leave it: between satin cords, around knots and beads, and on quilting and pleats, which are cloth themselves. The live stitch view draws the same weave.
• A Construction, if you pick one, lays its own finish on top of your material, ground included.

Tip: Zoom the 3D view in close and turn the light across the cloth with Light to see the threads. A very fine weave reads best close up.