Arms of same object overlapping without crossing border

Question

NOTE: I'm asking in Inkscape. The problem could have been solved in Adobe Illustrator, but it doesn't relate to a solution in Inkscape.

I want to add two arms over the same object and overlap them,

but I have the problem that when I want to add the border of the object I get that they cross

I want to put it like if one of the arms is over the other so the border of the one that is "down" can't be seen. How can I change this?

My group of layer is this:

Answer 1

This answer is for Inkscape. Select the shape, apply a stroke. The path overlaps itself.

then hit Path > Union, and the overlap is gone.

The Union function also works when you have separate closed paths which overlap. It's a great way to make new shapes by joining closed paths together.

Answer 2

The easiest way is to hide the unwanted parts by placing over them something that has the same color as the fill. That something can be a shape with same stroke and fill color or it can be 2 different strokes. They all are easy to draw, but the final tuning must be done without snapping because there's no snap to the edge of the stroke.

If you want to have perfect snapping to the inserted part, then

• duplicate your shape
• remove the stroke from one and send it to bottom
• remove the fill from the top shape and convert the stroke to a path
• duplicate the new path, subtract the top path rom the bottom shape

Now you have the stroke as a path that do not overlap with the fill. It's easy to draw the cover by the Pen.

I have the following cartoon:

1. the problematic shape
2. the stroke is converted to a path, its copy is subtracted from the original shape, the parts are temporarily shifted to show the result
3. a cover for the unwanted strokes is drawn by using the pen, the color is different for only to show it. NOTE: The pen snaps perfectly.