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I don’t know how its possible I’m just now writing this post since its one of the things I think about every time I purchase a pattern, or what I want to say when folks get seriously upset about companies switching from paper to PDF patterns. But right here, today, I’m going to tell you why I am totally converted to PDFs, and I hope at the very least it will help you to consider using this format in the future.
I’ll start out by saying I have no beef with paper patterns. Frankly, they are pretty most of the time, and they are nice to look at. Aside from that, I really don’t think they have any edge over PDFs.
So why are PDFs so great anyway?
I’m so glad you asked! First of all, pretty much any good PDF pattern comes with a copy shop file, which means that you can print off the whole of the pattern pieces in a single sheet (sometimes its two, but not often). That is the single best reason for my conversion to PDFs. Once you download that pattern, you can send the file over to your favorite printer and you can print as many as your heart desires which totally eliminates any need to EVER trace. You don’t have to treat your one and only sheet of pattern pieces like a family heirloom because you can just print more if you happen to lose (or gain) a few pounds, or want to make a version for your mother. Still, never pass these along to your friends- we want to keep our favorite designers in business and sharing in this case, is really not caring at all. Support your makers and designers!
But COST. Okay, so I’ve seen this question be raised a lot, and its a good one. So let me address that by saying first of all, PDF patterns should ALWAYS cost less than their paper counterparts because the designer has not had to pay all that money to print and pack the pattern. I’ve seen some justify charging you more for PDFs so their paper patterns would still sell, and let me tell you, as a consumer that is a terrible reason. Its ridiculous to charge as much for a digital file that requires zero work to process as a paper pattern.
As far as printing the files go, you still save! If you see that you can keep printing the actual pattern pieces this is only a win situation. Most of the time lately, I won’t even print the instruction portion, but rather leave it on my laptop. If I do print it, I will file it in my handy notebook (see how I do that in this post) for easy reference.
Most patterns give you two options: 1. you can print the bajillion individual tiles of the pattern pieces and trim them and tape them all together, or 2. you can print the single full pattern sheet on 36″ wide paper at your local printer. While I never minded taping the tiled pages together before, once I printed a copy shop file I have never ever gone back. And I will not. I have all mine printed at Office Depot which is super easy. I just email the file, specify what page is the copyshop file, and ask them to print it. They call me when its done and I normally pay maybe $8.
This is important: Office Depot has good prices, but they are a big box company and the employees can be scattered and get the pricing confused, so it is important that you specify these things: 1. Print only the copy shop file at 100% on 36″ wide paper by however long the document is, 2. Print on the blueprint printer (this should be obvious, but sometimes you need to explain obvious things), 3. Print ONLY in black and white otherwise they will try to charge as an art print which is ridiculous. My Office Depot charges $0.42/sq ft, according to what I asked the guy last time I was there, so its really pretty darn cheap. I’m in there weekly and sometimes more than that just for pattern printing.
The other reason I’m all for PDFs is that they are instant. When I want a pattern, I want it NOW. I also hate paying for shipping, so PDFs eliminate that cost altogether. Between the instant inbox delivery and the print time, I can usually have my pattern cut out and ready to go in less than 24 hours which I just love. I’m not the world’s most patient person, so this is a great option for me.
If you’d like to see the super easy way I store my patterns, both the pattern pieces and the instructions, check out this post!
I want to hear from you on this. If you are a paper pattern only person, tell me why! If you like PDFs, I’d like to know why that is as well. If you have any questions I can answer, please leave me a comment and I’ll do what I can do help out. I’d also like to know what your favorite patterns are right now! I’m feeling the itch to make some more clothes.
-Meredith
I’ve not had your success I must say in getting patterns printed at a reasonable cost at copy shops!. Business Depot (both here in Victoria BC) has charged me anywhere from $12 – $18 for exactly what you’re describing – a 36″ industrial printer in black and white. The other shop (Island blueprint) was rumoured to charge $5 for a pattern print out but I’ve never paid less than $12. Adding the cost of the pattern with the cost of printing it comes out pretty much the same as just buying the printed pattern but much less trouble! Pattern companies who offer only PDF are losing a lot of business – they are undoubtedly selling to the younger sewist but they are ruling out the older ones. Most PDF only designers have found that their business really didn’t grow until they offered printed patterns. I’m 63 and belong to a sewing group and NOT one woman in our group buys PDF – so I can’t imagine PDF only is good for business :) I have PDF patterns (because they were offered free) but I avoid them whenever possible. It’s just too much work. I believe that PDF patterns only shouldn’t cost more than $4 to compensate the sewist for all the extra work and expense they are going to have to go through to get their hands on the pattern to even get to the stage of cutting it out! Never mind pasting which is just completely insane :)
Interesting thoughts. I’m sold on PDF patterns, but absolutely won’t read a book online- I need the physical thing. So I wonder if its just a matter of what some are used to? I think of myself as very traditional for a “millennial” sewist. I do many things the old fashioned way simply because I think a lot of the older methods are better and yield items that will last longer. I, too, liked paper patterns better to begin with, but then it felt like a hassle to trace and store, so I tried PDFs. I didn’t totally love cutting and taping it together, but I was willing to trade off to have it right away. Using the copy shop totally sold me. Truly, the quality of the paper is better than either tissue or tracing paper, and I’m at a point in my life where I value my time so much more, so being able to spend $5-8 to save me two or more hours is not even a question- its the only thing for me to do that makes sense.
As far as there being a generational gap here, I do agree with you completely, but I wonder if its because the older generation is so good at what they currently do, they don’t see a need to try something new. From a business perspective, every single designer I know in both quilting and garments will hands down say that PDF is the best for their businesses, and with so many distributors dropping designers right and left (talking big name, not even indie), it makes very little fiscal sense to print and pack patterns for small quilt shops when they just aren’t selling well. There are many, many folks who will speak out against PDFs and swear up and down they will never buy that, so I wrote this post to show my experience and hopefully to straighten out the stigma there seems to be surrounding this. If you can track down the right printer, you truly can save a load of time and money in the end, unless of course you purchase a pattern and cut right into it for single size use.
Thank you for your thoughts! I know you sew a ton of garments, and I’m happy to hear your perspective. :)
Thank you for your considered and lengthy response Meredith! I think all of us in the PDF adverse camp are fearful that this direction will continue to grow and become the only option (like By Hand London). I understand the appeal of PDF (instant gratification, having a copy always in your files that can be reprinted anytime, on decent paper stock etc.) but the effort involved in putting the pattern together, or going off to a copy shop and explaining what it IS to someone else is off putting for many. Perhaps as you say, in quilting it makes a lot of sense or even in patterns with very few pieces like a Tee but in a jacket pattern for example with 48 pages to print off it’s just exhausting to contemplate :)
I am another one who does not like a PDF pattern, especially when they cost 16 dollars and the printed cousin cost 18 dollars. I agree I can not go into my local print shop for less then 12 dollars and get the actual pattern, not instruction printed. I am not a fan yet. I will wait for the printed patten in the mail
As a person currently designing a pattern $4.00 wouldn’t even cover her time and expense designing the pattern. I am not sure why people think this is cheap it really is not. It has definitely opened my my eyes into all the hard work that goes into creating a pattern. Designing, Drafting, Fitting, then paying graders, then finding testers, then sending it to production then finally marketing and hoping there is a buy in.. I have just began and all ready with the time invested have spent well over $2k and it has not gone to the graders yet. yes indeed McCalls and company can afford sales and such but the margin line is small on creating patterns!
I make mostly quilts so kinda different than if folks want garment patterns, but I agree – I’m sold on pdf. When I want it I want it NOW and it’s so much easier to ‘store’. I print only what I need – often not the entire pattern. I may just need dimensions or whatever, and then will refer back to the screen as needed. I have very few patterns printed out to save – I’ll just access them as I need them on my computer. Good topic tho – I’ll link in my next newsletter.
Thanks, Debbie! Its one of those topics that I think brings fear to the minds of many, but seeing the practical pro’s of PDFs makes it much less of a daunting change.
Paper.
Not all pdf patterns come with a copy shop option. The time discussing how to do this with my copy shop and then an extra trip to get the paper? It ended up costing me double the pattern price ( pattern $$ + $7.50 + car trip + time). And it took longer than waiting to receive a paper pattern in the mail ( not offered as an option). In my worldwide pledge to save crap from landfills, I sell older patterns on etsy. PDF’s have no future. They provide no historical moment for the future. They are basically a one-trick pony except for if you lose or gain a size. I also rarely make a clothing pattern twice. If I do, it’s traced with my tweaks to make it better. I like looking at paper instructions too. I can flip ahead trying to figure out what the pattern designer means with their interestingly worded instruction. Following instructions on my smarty pants phone or hauling my laptop into my sewing room are awkward and limiting. I admit I’m old school, but I’ve tried both and after this last dress (only offered as a pdf), I prefer a paper option.
I understand where you are coming from, and I think its a matter of what you are used to. If you are amazing at tracing patterns and can do it quickly and efficiently and don’t mind waiting on the pattern to arrive, paper is a great option. I personally hate paying for shipping and I don’t like the wait. For me, I always pay less for a PDF pattern (normally $10-12 as opposed to $16-20 for paper), then I will email the copyshop file to Office Depot which is five minutes away. I wait for the call, and go pick it up and for me its a huge time saver, which equals money for me. I think one big way we are different is that I don’t ever buy a pattern I don’t plan to make multiple times because that’s a big way I justify making my own clothes anyway. Otherwise its very expensive. While I don’t find it inconvenient to use my phone or computer which are both very portable and easy to carry where I need, I do get not liking to read off a computer or device. I will always choose a hard copy book over an ebook, so I can understand your love of the tangible paper booklet.
I don’t know of any pattern company indie or big name that would agree with the economics of paper over PDF, but time will tell how that goes.
I appreciate your thoughts on the matter, and I’m glad you have found what works well for you. Happy sewing! :)
I like both. PDF because it’s instant and convenient when I can just print only the size I need. But I really love old vintage paper patterns.
I do like PDF because its quick. The cutting and taping is annoying, but the last time I tried to order a couple paper patterns, they wanted to charge me $20 for shipping! Yikes! So, I went with the PDF version. Wish I was closer to a copy shop, but don’t want to make a trip to town to get it printed. I do like your storage idea. I’ve been searching for a better way to store them. I hope I can source some pattern hooks for a reasonable price.
Any luck with the hooks? I have a plenty. If you want to shoot me an email I can probably send you some to try out. I think they were a fantastic investment!
I think you said that you pay for the pdf file and then you pay an additional $8 at Office Depot, to print the pdf pattern. That in itself is very expensive..
Yes. Pretty much any pattern company charges at least $2 less for a PDF than paper pattern. And then I don’t pay shipping which saves me a total of at least $8, which I’m more than happy to pay for the copy shop print out because I have the freedom to do it as many times as I want. For me its just easier and saves me a load of time which for me is money. Someone mentioned only making a pattern once, but I would say if that’s the case, its almost never worth it to buy any garment pattern. :)
The reason I do not like PDF patterns is because if I am making a blouse or dress etc I want to be able to see through the tissue paper so I can match prints or find the placement. I can’t do that with a printed regular paper. I may want a design in a particular spot
I prefer PDF patterns as I live in Australia and can get them instantly plus there is the storage factor,efiles are easier to store
I’m totally team PDF too! I love the ease of the PDF patterns. I find paper patterns (of the big 4) have way too much ease to suit my taste.
Thank you, just the nudge I needed. For awhile I’ve been meaning to look into copy shop pattern printing prices and just haven’t done it. So glad to read this and realize it really is affordable. Now no more excuses to put off making those Sew House Seven Nehalem pants!
You make some interesting point Olivia, but as a full-time pattern designer, I can tell you that there IS a really good reason why the pdf version might be the same price as the hard-copy, and that would be because of distributors requirements. I depend on a substantial part of my income from distributors, but they would keep my patterns for very long if I was “under-cutting” them by selling it cheaper on my website in pdf format. Just something to keep in mind.
Excellent post and great tips thanks for sharing!