I had a very big epiphany recently… and it was for me a very radical one.
For years… decades? I mean how long have there been online pattern companies who sell a PDF pattern. A long time.
I am that person who would print out the pattern at home and then spend the better part of a day trimming and laying the pages out and then taping them together. It is a task that was easy to put off because I disliked it so much… why, I’d rather dust than sit and tape a pattern together… and I only dust when absolutely necessary!!
But I have some chambray… and I really, really need a few things to perk up my wardrobe… but the thought of printing out 133 pages and taping them all together was enough of a deterrent that I procrastinated all of August and most of September away…
Until last Wednesday that is. I took a gander at the PDF Plotting website and thought… what the hell, I will try it. They have a huge banner on their website that says if you “order by noon, ships same day!” Really?? I uploaded the two shirt pdf’s I had been procrastinating over. Uploading and check out took less than five minutes. I got an email notification that my “order had been shipped” a couple of hours later and the patterns arrived on Friday… wait, what?
When I think back to all the hours I have lost sitting and taping patterns together… sigh.
My Monday list now includes tracing off my size (I trace onto Swedish Tracing paper to preserve the original) and hopefully will have the pattern pinned and cut out today ready to make what will hopefully be a wearable toile!
Epiphany moments… perhaps the best thing to still be happening at my age! Happy Monday everyone!
That is AMAZING! I love that this service exists because it saves so much time and energy. Just taping those pieces together takes forever sometimes. So glad you tried it out and that you had such a great experience!
Printing and taping together sewing patterns isn’t something I have had the “pleasure” of doing, but I can certainly understand the pain associated with it. Some clever people must have understood that and I’m so glad they provide a service that makes it less painless for others. Happy Epiphany and I hope you will be well on your way with your chambray!
Wonderful!! I have not ordered PDF patterns for this very reason!
Genius! I tend to avoid garment sewing because the process of piecing together a pattern that fits my body is such a hassle. Going tomorrow to learn about the Lutterloh system, which has a system for drafting a pattern for your specific measurements, based on the golden ratio somehow. Not sure how it works exactly, but intrigued enough to go to the sales demo!
The last time I made a garment from a pattern it was one I bought at the fabric store and I just had to unfold all those big pieces of tissue paper and cut out my size. It was also something I enjoyed doing but I can see how taping together regular sized paper into a big pattern would get very tedious. I’m glad you found a solution that will work for you!
I’ll bet this service started because someone else thought it was ridiculous to spend all that time and paper to put together a pattern and figured there had to be an easier way — and thank goodness they did! I am glad to hear you had such a good experience and will file the information away in case I need it.
Oh, Kat. I wish I’d thought to mention it before!!! I’ve been having my PDF sewing patterns printed for . . . many, many years. (There are several companies that provide this service.) I’m so glad you’ve found a good one now! It’s never too late to learn something new!!! Happy sewing!
Epiphanies are a wonderful thing – at any age. The pattern service sounds like a wonderful idea. All the cutting and tracing of patterns is one of the reasons I don’t do much garment sewing. I should underline one. I wish I enjoyed garment sewing more than I do. Remember the days of sitting at a counter and pouring over the Simplicity, Butterick, or McCall’s books to choose a pattern. Then we’d go to the drawer, look up the pattern number and pull out the size we wanted.
I send building plans to a “blueprint” company that’s located a block from work. No one does actual blueprints, anymore… it’s all plotted & printed! And they’ll print anything, so that’s where I’ve been sending my sewing patterns for printing the last few years. I just swing by & pick them up on my way home. FedEx & UPS stores all have that capability, too, but are MUCH more expensive.
wow! that is quite exciting and I know the feeling of wishing I thought of something groundbreaking earlier in my struggles.