Have you ever wondered how to use the layers feature when printing a PDF sewing pattern? Our quick little guide will help you to easily turn layers within your PDF pattern on and off so you can just print the sizes you need. Using the layers feature in Adobe Reader when printing your PDF sewing pattern can make complicated patterns or ones with lots of sizes easier to follow and can help you save some ink, which has got to be a good thing .
Learn how to print and assemble a PDF sewing pattern at home with our easy and straight-forward PDF PRINTING GUIDE HERE.
HOW TO USE THE LAYERS FEATURE TO PRINT A PDF SEWING PATTERNS
The Layers tool is great, it means you can toggle sizes on and off and only print the size (or sizes) you want. I know, it’s really quite splendid! One snag, it’s currently only available on the desktop version, not the mobile App version of Adobe Reader.
So how does it work? Well, want to make a size 16? Toggle off to ‘Hide’ the other sizes and just print that one size 16. Or, are you between a size 10 and 12? Turn off the other sizes and leave the two sizes you want visible before printing, this makes it easy to see and blend your between your sizes now.
No more pick a line, and hope you’re cutting the correct one for your size, there only is your size. And, as a little added bonus, only printing the size you want saves ink too!
Oh yeah, like I said, layers is a great feature!
So you’re convinced LAYERS is amazing, so here’ s how to use the layers feature:
(Not convinced? You can just leave them all on and carry on as usual and print the full range of sizes)
Open up your layered pattern and make sure you are using the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
On the left you can see a menu, look for the LAYERS icon. It looks like 3 diamonds (or sheets of paper, I can’t decide) on top of each other.
Click the LAYERS icon to open and a panel will fly out, showing two options if you have a combined instruction and pDf pattern file. The first bar is for the Maker Instructions (the instructions have NO layers) and the second bar is for the PATTERN (later patterns will not show the instructions option).
CLICK the + icon on the PATTERN HEADER BAR to release the DROP DOWN MENU.
TA-DA! All the layers are listed so you can easily select your size(s). To toggle the layers on and off, just click the eyeball icon next to each layer name.
Leave the eyeball ON to print a layer, eyeball OFF to hide a layer. Now you see it, now you don’t!
LOCKED LAYERS
For this pattern you can see two layers are locked, the pocket layer and the tiling layer that contains pattern and the print test square information relevant to every size. This will vary slightly from pattern to pattern but the locked layers will protect the layers you really don’t want to turn off by mistake.
TOP TIP: Before you print, just double-check you have everything you want to print selected because the only thing worse than a pattern with lots of lines, is a pattern without any lines! And don’t forget to print the test square.
So there you go, all the benefits of a layered pattern in one little post. Enjoy!
