How to Get PDF Sewing Patterns Printed and Mailed to You

Benefits of Buying Sewing Patterns from Independent Designers

If you’re a garment sewist, you know that indie patterns are some of the best out there. Indie patterns tend to include more sizes, be fashionable (and/or timeless), and tend to have better instructions. For example, I recently bought a shirt pattern from Closet Core and it came with a 25 page booklet of instructions. Patterns from Sew Liberated have a sew along video that’s free to watch, even before you buy the pattern.

On the downside, you aren’t going to find these patterns on sale for $2.99 at the chain stores, and if the pattern is only available as a pdf, then you have to print it yourself.

PDF patterns generally come in two formats:

Printer paper size (8.5″ x 11″ in the US, A4 elsewhere)

or

“Copy Shop” size, or A0.

Once you buy and download your pattern, you have choices on how to get it onto paper so you can make your garment. you can print it at home, and then spend an unreasonable amount of time cutting and taping the pattern together, or you can have it printed on a plotter printer at a copy shop.

The chain office supply stores are frustrating to deal with, in my experience. If your local office supply store has great staff and you can get them printed there, that’s great.

For me, locally, I’ve found a small shop with excellent customer service whose main business is printing blueprints for architects. The shop also prints sewing patterns for me, and lots of other sewists.

Now I’ve found one more option – there are printing companies that will print and mail your pattern to you. While I love shopping local, sometimes I’d like to just order the print and have it magically show up in my mailbox in a few days to a week!

I think this is the blog post that opened my eyes to this service:
How to Use Digital Sewing Patterns, by Sew Liberated

They list a number of printing services in the U.S. and Canada. At least one of those offers a choice of standard paper or thinner newsprint.

I’ve just ordered a pattern from Sew Liberated and ordered the printed copy of it from Pattern Printing Co.

I bought the pattern, downloaded it, then uploaded it to Pattern Printing Co. and it will be mailed to me folded. Other services will mail you the patterns rolled, but I wanted to pay the least possible. My pattern is a single page, so it cost $2.49 plus 5 something for shipping.

Don’t want to deal with any of this? Understandable. There are indie pattern companies that sell paper (i.e. already printed) patterns. These may be on traditional pattern tissue paper, or they may be on more standard paper, like the plotter printer paper.

Closet Core and Cashmerette are two brands that come to mind that offer printed patterns.

If you’re in the Chicago area, Vogue Fabrics in Evanston, IL has an impressive selection of patterns from indie and mainstream pattern companies.  They carry Closet Core, for example.

What to Look for When Buying PDF Patterns

Many pattern companies selling patterns online offer a choice of formats – you can choose either A4 or A0, or you automatically get both. SOME pattern companies ONLY offer the A4, “print at home” – i.e. tiled and you tape them together option. If you don’t want to do the taping, read the listing carefully to ensure that the A0 option is included. These are often labeled “COPY SHOP.”

I only pdf buy patterns that have the copy shop size option.  I also like pattern patterns that are already printed for me.

I hope this is helpful!