Turn Your Paper Patterns into PDFs Using Free Software (3336 Views)

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• Step 1 of 20

  Prepare your pattern. Make sure your pattern pieces are all labeled correctly (by name and number), and the fabric grain, pleats, etc are all marked. It is best to make sure that all markings and outlines are gone over with in pen, so they are dark and visible when you scan.

• Step 2 of 20

  Refer to the BurdaStyle how-to to see how to arrange the pattern pieces on a grid, copy them, and draw a test square.

• Step 3 of 20

  Instead of using Photoshop (which is extremely expensive) to edit your images, you can use a variety of open source photo-editing resources. This how-to covers scanning and photo editing with The Gimp, an open source software available at http://www.gimp.org/. Downloading and using this software is covered in a different how-to.

• Step 4 of 20

  Scan the tile with the test square, and save it to a folder that you know the location of. It is best to save in a standard file format such as .pdf, .jpg or .jpeg, or .png, etc, rather than the proprietary format of your scanner.

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  Step 5 of 20

  Open up Gimp. Select File>>Open as shown in the image.

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  Step 6 of 20

  Select the folder that you saved your scanned image in, and select the correct file in the list of files that is your scanned image. If you are not finding the name of the file, then try changing the file type to "All Types". Open your file.

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  Step 7 of 20

  You should now have your scanned page with the test square on your screen. Select the "Rectangle Select" tool on the toolbox, and select the area around the outline of the box as shown in the burdastyle how-to. If you cannot select the entire area because of the size of the screen, use the zoom tool to zoom out.

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  Step 8 of 20

  Straighten your image out using the rotate tool, if it does not already look straight. Before using your rotate tool, Cut (ctrl+x) and paste (ctrl+v) your selected area so it is separated from the background layer. One of the gimmicks of a open-source software that I haven't had the time to figure out how to overcome. ;) If your image goes off the edges, you can drag it into the center with the move tool. Then, on the main screen, go to Select>>None, then go to Image>>Autocrop Image.

• Step 9 of 20

  Change your image to grayscale, using the tutorial here: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Learning-GIMP-Convert-Color-Images-to-Black-and-White-52109.shtml

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  Step 10 of 20

  This step is optional, but makes your final product look cleaner if done right. On the window containing your image, select Colors>>Brightness-Contrast. In the following window that appears, drag the bar corresponding to contrast to increase the contrast until lines look sharp, but make sure no data is eliminated. If needed, you can increase the darkness, too.

• Step 11 of 20

  Print your file out, making sure there is no extra software scaling applied at the printing process. Measure the test square to make sure it is the right size and check to see if everything is printed properly.

• Step 12 of 20

  If the test square is the right size, skip this step. If it is the wrong size, shrink it or expand it by using the Scale tool (found in the Toolbox, or use the keyboard command Shift+T), and then autocrop your image again. The formula to find the appropriate scale factor is: Scale% = 100+ 100*(desired length-measured length)/(measured length). Print and test again.

• Step 13 of 20

  If this first sheet went through correctly, you can probably assume that all others will as well. If it was simply an issue of scaling, perform the same scaling operation on each pattern page.

• Step 14 of 20

  Install PDF Creator, available at http://www.pdfforge.org/products/pdfcreator/download - we will use this instead of Adobe Acrobat to create .pdf files.

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  Step 15 of 20

  Print your first page to PDF. Instead of selecting your normal printer, select PDF Creator.

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  Step 16 of 20

  You will see this screen come up. Name your document so that you will know what it is. Select Wait - Collect. A screen will appear that lists your file name.

• Step 17 of 20

  Save and close your image. Scan and process all your other images (minus the test print part) as you did your first page, and print them to PDF Creator in the same fashion. When all your images are 'printed', select all the files listed in the PDF Creator screen, right click, and select "Combine"

• Step 18 of 20

  ...Cross your fingers....Click printer stop, and select Save. From here, you just need to make sure that your file is in a folder that you can locate, and PDF Creator should save all the pages you scanned there. Follow the rest of the directions that Burdastyle provides to upload this to the website.

• Step 19 of 20

  Notes: As an alternative way of transferring your pattern to printer pages, instead of tracing patterns out onto a grid of printed papers, you can instead first create that same grid by drawing on the back of some wide wrapping paper, use tracing paper to copy your pattern, and overlay pieces of pattern made of tracing paper onto the grid, paste them down, mark, and cut out each section.

• Step 20 of 20

  There are lots of other open source software alternatives to the industry standard sets like the Adobe Suite, and many of them are free and functional for everyday use. If, for example, you wanted to create a multisize pattern with different line patterns for each size, or make a professional-looking pattern PDF that looks like the Burda downloads, you could do so by using a vector art program such as Inkscape. Thanks to the current trends, you can do much more without being restricted by thousand-dollar software package prices.