How Digital Patterns Work

For short step-by-step videos on how to download, choose sizes, print and assemble your patterns, see the Style Falcon YouTube channel.

Downloading and Saving Your Digital Patterns

Style Falcon patterns should appear on the screen for download and in your email in-box as soon as you purchase them. If they don't show up in your email immediately, check your "spam" folder.

They appear as a .zip file, which includes these .pdf files:

• Print-at-home pattern: Print on letter-sized paper and assemble at home.
• Copy shop pattern: Email or bring to a copy shop on a thumb drive, to print on large-format A0 sized paper.
• Instructions: Detailed step-by-step instructions and diagrams, to print or scroll through as a digital file.
• Large print instructions: The same instructions, but with a large font and larger illustrations, and one step per page - useful for people with visual impairment or for use on a tablet or phone.
• Quick start guide: Everything you need to know about the pattern on one page - sizing, fit guidance, material requirements, line art and fashion illustration. 

To unzip a .zip file, download the file to your computer. Then open the files and save them to a hard drive, thumb drive, Google docs or other storage option.

It's important to open the files so that they appear in a proper .pdf reader, not a temporary .pdf reader from your Internet browser. We recommend Adobe Acrobat Reader (free download here). You should not need a paid version of Adobe Acrobat to download, view, choose layers or print your patterns. Adobe may try to sell users a paid version called Acrobat Pro, but it’s not needed to use Style Falcon patterns.

Also, it's important to save the files, because otherwise they remain in your temporary files.

Be sure you understand the Terms of Service for digital patterns. See "Policies" for more.

 

Choosing Layers and Printing

Style Falcon patterns are "layered" so that you can print only the sizes you want. This cuts down on clutter on the page. To access the layers, click on the "layers" icon  on the right of the .pdf and uncheck any sizes you do not want to print. The sizes you want will remain. You also can keep or remove the 1-inch gridlines.

Adobe Acrobat's "layers" feature does not work on iPads. To use this feature, download your pattern on a PC or Apple computer.

If you'd prefer to have the pattern printed at a copy shop, email the pattern to the shop or bring it to the shop on a thumb drive. Some printers will print layers as directed, some will not. Ask if you're not sure. Local copy shops are often more accommodating than national chains.

The choice of printing at home or printing at a copy shop is a matter of personal preference. Either way, your pattern will be on study paper with black ink and large fonts and bold markings, instead of on flimsy and hard-to-read tissue paper.

 

Assembling a Print-at-Home Pattern

Each print-at-home pattern has an instruction page with a map of how the pages fit together, plus page numbers and markers to help you piece it together. Review this map to print just the pages you want - some views of the pattern may have extra pieces.

Print the pattern "actual size" or 100%. To be sure your printer settings are correct, print the first page of the pattern. It includes a "test square" that measures exactly 2 inches or 5 centimeters square. Measure that square to be sure the printer settings are correct. If the square is the wrong size, check your printer settings and try again. You may need to print at slightly less than or more than 100%, but try the 100% or "actual size" setting first.

To assemble the pages, either trim off the right and bottom margins or overlap the pages at the margins and tape them together.