I’m having trouble printing a pattern.
We’ve all been there and totally understand how frustrating this can be. Here are a few tips for you:
- Usually patterns will be in a PDF format. These can be opened in your browser but this can often be the cause of printing problems. Best to save the PDF file to your computer and open it with Adobe Reader, which is free.
- Opening on your phone is almost certainly going to give you printing problems. The apps used to display PDF files rarely are able to print them at the correct scale. We recommend using a laptop computer for printing.
- If you have an older version of Adobe Reader, older than the pattern was created in, then that also might cause printing issues. You can download the current version here.
- Check your print options in the preview window before printing. You should NOT select any scaling options, centering, or fit to page. Check that scale is at 100%. Preview the pattern in the window before printing. Does it look OK in the preview?
- Many patterns will come with a test square that is a set size. Print that page first and check the measurement of the test square before wasting paper and ink printing the whole pattern if your settings are off.
- Check out this helpful article all about printing sewing patterns with a great video explanation of troubleshooting tips.
- If you are really stuck, you can usually email the file to a friend and see if they have more luck.
- Or try printing at your local library or give the file to your stationery store. They can often print these files for you at very low cost.
If all else fails, try contacting the pattern designer and asking for help. It might be something they have come across before and can advise you on how to print correctly.
I don’t understand the sewing instructions. Can you help?
That depends. If it’s one of the patterns exclusively designed for Sew Modern Kids and distributed by us, then yes, we’ll try to help if you get stuck with the instructions.
If it’s any of the other patterns we’ve linked to, then you would need to contact the original pattern designer, or the blogger who wrote the tutorial. There may be contact details within the pattern itself, or you may be able to contact them via their Etsy store page, or via their website. Look out for a Contact Us page on their site.
Why aren’t all the patterns free?
Most of us need to earn a living or be rewarded in some way for our time, and pattern designers and sewing bloggers are no exception. We will always share free patterns with you each week, but we also choose to showcase small independent pattern designers too, and help them to support their families through sewing pattern sales.
Many designers and bloggers already include so much wonderful free content for you to use and enjoy, as well as free patterns for you to try. From time to time, where a pattern takes more time to develop, or comes with extras such as a video tutorial, or several designs/sizes in one pattern, or is just a step above in terms of the design, time and testing that went into it – well, we think those excellent sewing patterns are worth the small investment.
We’d sooner link you to a well-designed and well-written paid pattern than to send you to a link for a similar pattern that’s free, but isn’t quite up to the same standard. We think you’ll agree that some of the free patterns you may have downloaded in the past have been frustrating, and that takes the fun out of it for all of us.
Why do you have adverts on your site?
Sadly it’s pretty common with websites these days, from the smallest blogs to the largest news sites to use this kind of generic advertising. The internet might be free for you as a user, but it costs quite a bit of money for us to run a website. Adverts do pay us a small amount towards the cost of running the site for you.
It doesn’t cost you anything to have the adverts on the site, and that’s better than us trying to sell you something we think. You can either choose to ignore them, or if you do click on one by mistake using the back button will bring you right back to the page you left. We can’t control the content of those adverts, which are usually geared towards your unique browsing history and interests.
A note about AdBlockers – if you use an adblocker app or extension on our site, it might interfere with content you do actually want to see. If you cannot find a button or link to a pattern we’ve written about, its most likely that your AdBlocker thinks the link is an ‘advert’ for the pattern and is blocking it. Turn off your adblocker for that page and the link or button will magically reappear.
How can I contact you?
Got a question that isn’t covered on this page? Then drop us an email and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
Do you accept submissions?
Yes we do! If you have a kids pattern you have designed yourself, a tutorial on your blog, or a video somewhere like YouTube, we’ll be delighted to consider them for featuring on our site. Even if you don’t have a blog, if you’d like to write a review of a pattern you have tried, or even a class you watched, or a sewing book you read, we’d love to here from you.
You can share a URL with us, as well as write your own article ready to publish on the site by using the form on our submissions page. If you don’t already have something online and just would like to write a review for the site, then please send us an email using the address on our contact page.
Can I sell my pattern on your site?
We’re delighted that you would trust us with your pattern. At the moment we aren’t selling any patterns directly on the Sew Modern KIDS, only linking to patterns for sale elsewhere. It’s something that we might add in the future (the same as the wonderful pattern store we have on Sew Modern BAGS), but for now we recommend that you add your pattern for sale on Etsy, the largest pattern marketplace. When it’s all set up and ready for sale, do come back and fill out our submission form to link to the pattern so we can recommend it through Sew Modern Kids and hopefully send some sales your way.
If you have a bag, purse, tote, wallet or organizer pattern, then we do have a pattern store on the Sew Modern Bags site and we would welcome your submission there.