Plotter sewing patterns at true width
The pattern arrives as a single continuous sheet, at the roll width you choose — 90, 120 or 150 cm — and at full scale. Send it to a plotting service, lay it on the fabric, cut.
5 per pattern, and the width does not change the price.What you gain over A4
- No taping, which means no accumulated error from the joins.
- The pattern is ready to cut the moment it comes off the plotter, instead of after half an hour of assembly.
- It is the format workshops use when they cut by spreading fabric in layers.
How to order plotting without ruining the scale
Tell the print shop explicitly: print at 100%, do not fit to the roll width, and use the width the file was prepared for.
If they "adjust" it so it fits, exactly the same thing happens as with a badly printed A4 — except now at full scale, across a whole roll of fabric.
Which width to choose
Match the roll width your plotting service actually runs. If you are not sure, 120 cm is the safest middle ground: almost every service handles it, and the pattern pieces sit comfortably within it.
Questions
- Does the plotter width change the price?
- No. 90, 120 and 150 cm all cost the same 5, because it is the same pattern prepared for a different roll.
- Can I print a plotter file at home?
- Not usefully — it is one large continuous sheet. If you only have a home printer, the A4 format is the one you want.
- What do I tell the print shop?
- Print at 100%, no scaling or fitting, at the roll width the file was prepared for (90, 120 or 150 cm).