[Anonymous]

Hi there,

I’ve just bought the Sketchbook children’s shirt and short patterns. Is there a key to assembling the pages? i don’t see either page numbers or a view on a single page of how they should be placed, similar to the attached.

Of course, I’m sure I could work it out but I expect there’s an easier way.

Thoughts? Shivaun

[Todd Gibson]

Our PDF patterns are a little different than others in that you do not assemble a whole, large pattern sheet with all the pieces on it. Instead, you will be assembling the individual pieces one by one. (Why put them all together in a large sheet only to immediately cut them apart, right?) The tiled pieces do not fit together into a single sheet, so there isn’t need for a guidesheet like the one you mention. There are instructions for piecing together pattern pieces that are larger than a single sheet of paper. You’ll find these on the first page with grid lines. Follow the instructions to put together the individual pieces, and you’ll have no problem assembling all your pieces.

[Frankie]

I’ve never worked with a PDF pattern before and am totally confused about how to enlarge it. Please help. I ordered the Cinema Dress pattern.

[Enbee]

What are you trying to enlarge?

At least for the O+S patterns, the pattern is sort of in three parts: there are the instructions themselves (comes first), the pattern pieces intended to be printed out on your standard home printer (after the instructions), and the large-scale pages intended to be printed out on a large-format printer (usually the last page or 2-3 pages of each pattern).

You can enlarge the instructions pages by changing the printing scale, but the pattern pieces to be printed out on a standard printer on 8.5X11 paper have to be printed out at 100%. For pattern pieces that don’t fit on a single sheet of paper, there are cut lines and labels indicating which pieces should be trimmed and taped together. So for an O+S garment front, for example, you’ll probably tape together 4-6 separately printed sheets, depending on how long the garment is.

The large-scale format page is the one to use if you have access to a big printer, and it will only print correctly on a large printer. AFAIK, there’s no way to print out the single (or few) sheet pattern as tiles – when I’ve forgotten to omit it from the end of my print, I just get a useless page.

Edit: I missed that you said Cinema Dress – so as an adult pattern, the front might be three pages wide instead of 2, and the skirt pieces might be 3-4 pages long on their own. I love PDF patterns for children’s clothing, but for adult clothing, I try to find a large format printer to print the large pattern pages! I’ve got access to one at work, and a (now closed, sigh) local sewing shop had one and would print out patterns.

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Enbee.

[Ruth]

I don’t see the option in my cart, to choose a PDF pattern. Does that come in the final part of the purchase or are these patterns only paper? I want to get the Fira dress

[Todd Gibson]

You need to choose a paper or digital pattern from the start. All our digital patterns have a title that begins with the word “digital”. If a pattern title does not begin with the word “digital” it is the paper version.

The digital Fira Dress is found here:

https://oliverands.com/shop/digital-fira-dress-top-sewing-pattern.html