[LBorealis]

I brought in my School Days Coat .pdf to the local printer’s to get full-sized pattern sheets made. They were thoroughly confused, and now I am too, even though it seemed relatively straightforward to start with. The instructions say to have the last two pages printed on 36″ wide paper. So, do I have them print the page as is on 24″ by 36″ paper? That is to say, just have it inflated onto a larger piece, without changing the orientation? The lady was confused because of the white space at the top and the bottom of the last two pages (and seemed to think that testing the 1″ square would be too much for her). Is there a specific percentage I could tell them to inflate the page to?

I hope I’m describing this clearly. Precision wording – especially when it comes to sewing – has never been my forte. Thanks.

[Nicole]

I have no clue but I have sent out some emails on your behalf.

Watch this space…. 🙂

[LBorealis]

Thanks Nicole; I appreciate it. I tried inflating the last page to scale on my home printer so I could just tell the printers how big to blow it up (and maybe save myself their resizing fee – in my dreams) but I can’t control which part of the page gets printed and thus can’t see the square inch to check for accuracy.

[Nicole]

Just to clarify, you are in the USA? That info could be helpful.

[LBorealis]

Yes ma’am! Sewing winter jackets in Hawaii, here 😉

[Sarvi]

Hi there, I just came back from the print shop, so let me see if I can help. I don’t have that PDF, so if you could answer a few questions for me that would be great. For my O+S PDF patterns, the very last page of the document is a single large sheet with all the pattern pieces on it.

Are your last two pages big sheets like that? If so, you will want them both printed. If only the last page is like that, print only the last page. It is probably best to print from Adobe Reader (rather than by using the computer’s Preview function, for example). In the version of Reader that I have, I can ctrl-click and choose Document Properties. I’m using the Library Dress in this example. This is what I see:

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3897/14757272243_20291a270b_o.png

That tells me the document is 71 inches by 36 inches. Every other page in the document as a whole is regular 8.5 x 11. The 36 inch width is a standard for large format prints in the US. It will always {whatever} by 36. You don’t need to enlarge or reduce anything by anything. If it looks weird, cut off, etc, then maybe try changing the orientation from portrait to landscape. That should be the only thing to fix. You want to print it at 100%, no scaling, no ‘fit to page’, no inflating. You should only have to tamper with those settings if they’re left over from the previous printing jobs.

Hope this helps!

[Sarvi]

Oh, and be sure the price is somewhere under $10 or $12. If they quote a figure substantially higher, they’re giving you the wrong kind of print. There should be no ‘resizing fee’ — they are not making any changes to the document provided, whatsoever.

[LBorealis]

Sarvi, yes, the last two pages are big sheets with all the pattern pieces on them. I believe that this jacket has more pieces than a typical Oliver + S pattern, hence the two pages instead of one.

Holy cow. I’m so inarticulate. Please bear with me here.

What I’m hearing for you is that the 36″ paper width corresponds with the 8.5″ width of the .pdf page, were I to print it at home. And that the 11″ height of the .pdf page should correspond with an infinite measurement at the print shop, assuming they print on a 36″ wide x <whatever long> roll of printer paper. Am I making sense?

So all I need to do is ask them to print the two pages on large format (specifically, 36″ wide) paper?

Thanks for your help! I feel bad about joining this sweet sewing community with demands for help instead of observations or sharing, and hope I’ll be able to contribute more in the future.

[Todd Gibson]

I think you understand now, but let me see if I can help confirm for you.

I think you have the large size range of the pattern. Because there are so many pieces and they are so large, this pattern contains TWO full sized pattern sheets to fit them all in. These are the last two pages of the file.

The last two pages are full sized sheets that are each 36″ wide. The first of the two (page 70 in the file) is 58″ long. The second (page 71) is 48″ long.

All the previous pages in the file are formatted to print on 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper. These can be taped together to create all your pattern pieces. So the file gives you TWO options for printing the pattern. Print pages 1-69 on 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper and tape the pieces together to get your pattern pieces, OR send pages 70-71 to a copy shop that can print on 36″ wide paper.

These sheets are designed to be printed on a 36″ plotter than prints from a roll of paper–not on standard sized sheets. Since it prints from a roll, the length of each page can be whatever it needs to be up to a certain maximum. With these printers, when the document is sent to the printer, the printer knows how long the sheet needs to be and cuts off the sheet when it is done printing the length.

When looking for a copy shop to print these, make sure that they have a printer that prints 36″ wide prints from a roll. If they have the right kind of printer, the should print pages 70 and 71 at 100% with no scaling. This will give you the pattern sheets printed at the right size. You can test this by measuring the 1″ test scale on each page.

I hope that helps.

[Sarvi]

We’re here to help, please feel free to ask away! And welcome 🙂

[LBorealis]

Todd, thank you. That solidifies my understanding. Now, if only I can get the print shop to understand as well.

[Nicole]

Is it a silly suggestion to print off Sarvi and Todd’s answers and take it with you?

[LBorealis]

I sure hope it isn’t silly! I’ve already copied and pasted the answers and attached them to the email that the print shop asked I send. We will go down tomorrow morning and see if they can’t help.