Printing

The sewing patterns are provided at full size and can be printed in full on a large format printer or in a tiled format (Letter/A4) that you can print at home but which will require taping the tiles together. Both options require that you have installed the free Adobe Reader.

The ‘right’ way – AO/large format

The sewing patterns in the non-tiled format need a large format printer, that is something like a plan printer or a plotter – not something many people have at home, but some people do have them at work. Some photocopying places, draftspeople, architects, graphic designers/ad studios, schools, signage companies etc have these machines and may print them for you as a service. It is generally not very cheap ($10-30). The instructions are A4/letter sized and can be printed on an ordinary home printer.

Quick and slightly bodgy way – Tiled to A4/Letter

The tiled patterns have the pattern at full size but it prints parts of them on ‘tiles’ so you can print them on your A4 or Letter printer at home. This means you will need to stick all the pieces together and the pattern will not be as accurate as the previous method. However, if you are experienced or sewing with knits this shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The method is not without its downsides – sometime the pattern doesn’t print straight because the paper feeds in wonky and sometimes things won’t line up exactly because the printer is not calibrated etc. Some of the earlier patterns don’t have layout guides so it can be hard to work out which order to tape the tiles in, but the later ones have them and I will provide guides for the old ones when I get time.

Finding a large format printer

An AO (841mm x 1198mm) printer can usually be found at your local photocopying or printing service, or even an architectural drafting place.

The large format or plotter printing process ensures your pattern is accurate. The paper on which they are printed is also of a much better quality than your standard tissue paper.

Look around online for a “plotter printer” or a “plan printer” near you. Check they can print A1, A2 or AO depending on your needs. When checking prices, always check if the price includes a download or electronic file opening fee.

If you can’t find one nearby you might find one online that will let you email the file, pay by credit card and will snail mail your pattern back to you.