Can I Use a Printable Sewing E-Pattern Without a Computer? – Sewing Machines Los Angeles

Just because you don’t have a computer or a printer at home should not stop you from the benefits of using printable sewing e-patterns. There are so many benefits to sewing e-patterns, and the most noticeable is the price, they are much cheaper than normal paper printed patterns as the designer or manufacturer does not have to pay for the printing process.

If you don’t have a computer or a printer at home, you may wonder how you’ll go about buying a e-pattern. Most libraries have access to the Internet, and it’s often free of charge, or you could pop down to an internet café in your local town, either way access to the internet is now available in most places, which offers you the opportunity to buy a printable sewing e-pattern. It’s also likely that if you are having to access the internet in a public place, downloading your printable sewing e-pattern is almost impossible, but don’t panic. Many designers and manufacturers offer you the option to buy your e-pattern on a disc which they’ll ship direct to your house.

Then all you have to do is go down to your local copy shop, hand them the disk and ask them to print off the pages for you. The files for the printable sewing e-pattern will normally be in pdf format which the shop will be able to open, and the majority of the pattern will be in black and white, which means the cost will be very low.

You might very well say at this point “well after all that hassle I might as well just buy a paper pattern”. This is true in the short term, if you don’t have a computer it may very well be easier just to pop to your local fabric shop and buy a printed pattern that it is to buy and print a printable sewing e-pattern. But what an e-pattern can offer you that a pre-printed pattern cannot, is the ability to get another printed if you make a mistake on the pattern, or the paper degrades etc. You can also re-print the pattern for years to come, where as over time a tissue paper pattern will degrade, and if you use it more that a few times will often get torn or bits go missing. This is not so with a printable sewing e-pattern. If you do not wish to keep the paper pattern after you’ve used it you can get rid of it, and then at a later date, just print out a new one. This also makes the storage of your patterns much easier. A normal tissue paper pattern will take up a lot of space if you have a large collection, where as printable e-sewing patterns on disk will all fit nicely onto your home CD rack, and you’ll never loose any pieces.