Assembling an A4 Pattern Sheet by Sheet

What you take from this lesson: Assemble an A4 pattern of twenty or thirty sheets without letting the error accumulate.

Why the order matters

Every badly made join adds one or two millimeters. That sounds like nothing. On a pattern that is five sheets wide, it adds up to as much as a centimeter of error around the garment outline; and because the error always builds up in the same direction, it doesn't correct itself.

The method below exists so that this error doesn't accumulate.

Step by step

• Lay out all the sheets following the printed numbering, in rows and columns, on a large table. Don't tape anything yet.
• Trim the excess margin from one side only of each sheet (the right and the bottom, for example). That way you always overlap the trimmed edge on top of the full one.
• Tape one complete row: overlap the sheets until the alignment marks match EXACTLY, hold them in place and only then tape.
• Repeat with each row, separately.
• Join the rows to each other, again matching the marks before taping.
• Cut out the pieces along the line of the size you are going to produce.

What to tape with

Clear tape is the most practical: it lets you fix a join that came out wrong. Paper tape works too, and you can write on it.

Glue stick is awkward for this: it doesn't forgive mistakes and the paper wrinkles.

A shortcut worth taking

If you are going to cut a style many times, it is worth transferring it to cardstock or heavier paper after assembling it. A pattern on ordinary paper tears after a few uses, especially at the corners and the notches.

And if you are going to produce the style in volume on a regular basis, the math changes: the plotter format saves you all of this work every time you need to print it again.

Common mistakes

• Taping by eye without matching the marks.
• Trimming the margin from both sides of each sheet: this leaves a gap between sheets.
• Assembling the pattern directly on the fabric instead of on a table.

In short

Lay out the sheets, trim the margin from one side only, tape row by row matching the marks and join the rows at the end. You control the error sheet by sheet, not at the end.