Print a PDF Sewing Pattern at Home on A4 or Letter

How many sheets a copy-shop pattern takes

Page Tiles defaults: 1 cm margins, 10 mm overlap, Auto orientation.

* With 5 mm overlap, a 36 × 48 in page fits on 25 sheets of A4.

Print it at the right size

The pattern only fits if it prints at exactly the size it was drawn. Open the PDF and choose the large copy-shop page. Its dimensions appear under the file name, for example PDF · 84.1 cm × 118.9 cm for A0.

Under Finished size, choose By size and enter that width. Turn on labels, cut marks and alignment marks; labels are useful when all 25 sheets look alike from the back.

Start with Print Test Seam…, which prints A1 and A2. Find the pattern’s test square and measure it. Print the remaining sheets only when the square is the right size. The main printing guide covers the app controls in detail.

Tape it up

1. Lay the sheets out by label: row A across the top, B under it.
2. Trim along the cut marks: the left edge of every sheet outside the first column, and the top edge of every sheet outside the top row.
3. Lay each trimmed sheet over its neighbour’s overlap and line up the alignment targets and the pattern lines.
4. Tape along the seams. Tape across the pattern lines, not along them, so you can still cut through.

Assembling a tiled poster has pictures of the marks and more on keeping rows straight.

Why not “Fit to page”?

A pattern scaled to fit is about 4% too small. On a 100 cm hip measurement, that’s 4 cm of missing ease. Always print patterns at 100%, and always check the square. More in printing at actual size on a Mac.