How to print a PDF sewing pattern at home, at a copy shop or on a projector

A PDF pattern is only useful at its true size. Here is how to print one on a home printer, at a copy shop or on a plotter, or project it straight onto the fabric, and how to check the scale every time.

Last updated 30 October 2026

First, check the scale

Print at 100% or Actual size. Never choose “Fit to page” or “Shrink to fit”: the pattern shrinks by a few percent, and a few percent on a 100 cm hip is several centimetres.

Print the first page and measure the test square with a ruler. If it is the size printed beside it, the scale is right. In a Styli PDF it is the 5 × 5 cm square on the cover.

On a home printer (A4 or US Letter)

The pattern is split across many sheets, called tiles. Print them all at 100%, trim or fold one edge of each sheet as the instructions say, line up the alignment marks, and tape the sheets together in rows. A page map shows which sheet goes where.

A3 or Tabloid paper means fewer sheets to tape. Every sheet of a Styli pattern is printed as pattern paper, with a centimetre grid that runs on from one sheet to the next, so a sheet that has slipped is easy to see.

At a copy shop or on a plotter (A0 or a roll)

Copy shops print large formats: A0 sheets (84 × 119 cm) or a plotter roll, often 91 cm wide and as long as the pattern needs. There is little or nothing to tape, and it is usually cheap in black and white.

Ask for the file to be printed at 100% with no scaling, and measure the test square when you collect it.

With a projector

A projector file puts the whole pattern on one page at true size, so you can project it onto the fabric and cut straight from the light, with no paper at all. Set it up once: adjust the projector until the calibration marks on the file measure exactly right on the cutting table.

Styli's projector file has a 10 cm square and a 50 cm ruler for this. Cut on the solid lines.

Paper sizes in Styli

Choose the paper when you download the pattern: A4, US Letter, A3, Tabloid, A0, a 91 cm plotter roll, or one sheet sized to fit the whole pattern for a plotter or a digital file. The PDF opens with a cover page: the instructions, the scale square, the list of pieces and the page map. Nothing is ever scaled to fit the paper.

For pattern software, see DXF for CLO 3D.