| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Michelle Meeks |
Posted - Feb 07 2007 : 08:22:31 AM
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to enlarge the Helen's Apron pattern by 400%. I purchased the pattern but have no idea how to make it bigger by 400%. Help! |
| 24 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Leezard |
Posted - Aug 28 2007 : 04:52:20 AM
That's good to know that it was so much less at those two places! I paid about $10 when I did my first one and was hoping to find somewhere cheaper to do others. Thanks for the info Elizabeth and nashbabe :)
http://ruby--slippers.blogspot.com/
www.leezard.etsy.com |
| nashbabe |
Posted - Aug 28 2007 : 04:07:00 AM
Mine cost around $4 at Kinko's on the do it yourself wide format copier (they had to show me how but I will know next time). I covered the pattern parts with packaging tape and then cut it out. But you could blow it up on the small format copiers and piece it together for less, I would think.
Another way would be to print it on an overhead transparency and then project it on the wall and copy it onto freezer paper or that brown builders paper from a hardware store. I don't know if too many people have overhead projectors though...I used to do corporate training so I have one...
Crunchy crafty goodness and psychoses...;-)http://nashbabe.blogspot.com |
| brightmeadow |
Posted - Aug 27 2007 : 11:44:59 PM
Alee, just enlarging the overall pattern doesn't give a good fit, it would be way too long (especially for us "plus petites") as well as disproportionate at the shoulder.
But there are a lot of good books on making pattern adjustments. I think I even posted what I did to make the apron pattern in "the book" fit me - I'm a size (22-24WP) somewhere in here.
But then I'm more of a "do it yourself" type of person, that is why I just drew the pattern on newspaper from looking at the drawing in the book, and didn't take it to Staples!
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my blog at http://brightmeadowfarms.blogspot.com ,web site store at http://www.watkinsonline.com/fish or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
| BotanicalBath |
Posted - Aug 27 2007 : 7:40:56 PM
Staples, $5.44 one big sheet. I didnt want to deal with taping it together. If you are foing to use the pattern a lot, use packing tape on the edges.
E-
BotanicalBath@peoplepc.com www.Botanical-Bath.com www.BotanicalBath.etsy.com http://botanicalbath.blogspot.com/
"I do my housework in the nude. It gives me an incentive to clean the mirrors as quickly as possible." |
| Alee |
Posted - Jun 24 2007 : 1:59:01 PM
Janet-
I wonder if just increasing the enlargment a little would give you a plus size apron? Have you ever experimented with it?
Alee
The amazing one handed typist! One hand for tying, one hand to hold Nora! |
| janetinva123 |
Posted - Jun 23 2007 : 9:24:39 PM
I'm a plus size farm girl. I would love to see aprons in plus sizes and love your idea and name of that business. Good luck.
Jc
http://beloved-creations.blogspot.com
http://beloved-creations.com |
| IMDBLJ |
Posted - May 06 2007 : 03:54:20 AM
I haven't enlarged an apron pattern yet, but if there's a pattern that I like and know I'll use a lot or if I will make it in a lot of sizes I use interfacing and copy the orginal. I buy the cheap, thin interfacing on the rolls (it's wider than the pre-packaged) when it's on sale and since it's thin all I have to do is lay it on the pattern, weight it down and copy the lines. I write on it the pattern piece and any other information (like size) that I need. I would imagine this would be what I'd do once I had my 400% copy made on regular paper so that it'll last longer and be a bit more malleable. |
| Alee |
Posted - Apr 13 2007 : 09:00:31 AM
What a great idea! I had never thought of making a cloth pattern before. From now on I am going to do that instead of continually having to re-make paper patterns for the things I sew a lot! Thanks for the great tip! |
| Libbie |
Posted - Apr 09 2007 : 07:50:57 AM
I think that making a muslin pattern is a great idea! Reusable...easy to store...great!
XOXO, Libbie
"All through the long winter, I dream of my garden. On the first day of spring, I dig my fingers deep into the soft earth. I can feel its energy, and my spirits soar..." - Helen Hayes |
| Aunt George |
Posted - Apr 08 2007 : 10:09:52 PM
I just handed it to the guy behind the counter and he did the moving around of the pattern on the copier until he got it correct, and then he just charged me standard copy fees. It all came out on 8 1/2 x 10 paper and then I taped them together and made a muslin pattern so that it would be soft, flexible and reusable. Just an FYI and it actually did cost less than $2 doing it this way!
http://auntgeorgeshouse.blogspot.com/index.html
Thanks for checking out my apron and sewing musings! |
| Michelle Meeks |
Posted - Feb 09 2007 : 2:38:14 PM
Thanks for all of the options. I have no problem paying for the englargement because that seems to be the easiest way and a more advanced sewer could use the grid approach as well. Thanks! |
| katie-ell |
Posted - Feb 08 2007 : 05:17:01 AM
Sheryl-lyn -- You are a clever girl! Thanks for the tips.
And thanks, Carol, for the grid idea, too. Will have to try this soon.
|
| sewgirlie |
Posted - Feb 07 2007 : 6:39:11 PM
I folded the paper into eights and was able to enlarge them that way. First I folded the paper into 8 sections, I enlarged them 200 percent. Then I folded the new pieces again and enlarged them 200 percent again. This worked, but it took a lot of messing around on the copier at work. Whatever method you use, if you can laminate the pattern, you will be able to use it forever.
I did not even put pins in it. I just put something heavy on the pattern and farbic and used my rotary cutter and mat to cut it out. My mat it not the full size, so I just had to move it once halfway through. |
| faithymom |
Posted - Feb 07 2007 : 2:26:04 PM
Thanks, Carol!
I love your products and I do enjoy not having to wade through all those ads.
Faith
"All television is educational television. The only question is, what is it teaching?"-Fmr. FCC Commissioner Nicholas Johnson |
| Carol |
Posted - Feb 07 2007 : 12:25:46 PM
Hi Liz.
I think the women who have copied it for under $2 have used the grid approach that I explained in the long message. You would just have to experiment moving the pattern around on the glass of the copy machine so that it enlarges each section of the pattern, which you'll then have to tape together (if you can copy onto 11x17 paper when doing this, you'll have less pieces). Of course, you could have your local copy center copy it this way as well. Or they could help you set it up on a self-server copier, which you should be able to use at about 5 cents per copy.
Thanks!
Carol
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, red wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming 'WOO HOO, what a ride!'"
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| knewslady |
Posted - Feb 07 2007 : 12:18:58 PM
I paid $5 for the enlargement Liz which I thought was reasonable considering the size of paper it was on.
I don't know if I could mail you one or not, if you are forced to pay a lot more than that for an enlargement.
Kathy
Will always be a farmgirl at heart |
| Leezard |
Posted - Feb 07 2007 : 11:53:00 AM
Thank you for your explination Carol...I'm sure we all appreciate what you all are doing to make things like this more cost effective, we've just got to vent a little 
And I'm really curious where in the world you go to get it copied for under $2, I went to one of those office places like Office Depot and it was close to $10...lol
http://ruby--slippers.blogspot.com/ |
| Carol |
Posted - Feb 07 2007 : 11:43:07 AM
Hi everyone!
When we developed our apron patterns, we tried to make them as easy as possible to work with. Since we wanted to include some of those in our books and magazine and also be able to sell them from here as you order them, we were limited to printing them on 8 1/2 x 11 pages. In order to print on standard pattern paper at full size, we would have had to go to a specialty printer and order a minimum quantity of each pattern, which would make their costs prohibitive (for us, and for you!), and this wasn't even an option for printing inside a book or magazine. So, in keeping with the farmgirl can-do, make-do spirit, we figured out a way to provide patterns using the materials we had on hand. We're all about finding innovative ways to self-publish, and remember, it's all done on a shoestring with no advertising dollars supporting it! We don't know if we'll ever recoup the costs of designing these aprons, writing the patterns, endless rounds of pattern checking and editing, and printing them - and we know we can never compete with pattern giants like Butterick and McCall's - but we hope that you can see that there's more than one way to publish an apron pattern, and be inspired by one more farmgirl home-business idea.
We've sold nearly 1,000 apron patterns so far (not counting the ones we gave away in the book and magazine), and have had lots of positive feedback about them. After the magazine was published, I realized it would be easier to enlarge them on a standard machine if the patterns had a grid pattern behind them, so I added grids on all the patterns for sale. These grids allow you to blow them up on a standard copy machine by simply moving the pattern around on the glass and then taping the enlarged pattern together using the grid as a guide. You can also take the patterns to your local copy shop and enlarge them on one piece of paper, although this will cost you more.
I'll reprint here the following feedback (and some make-do ideas about how to enlarge the patterns without a copy machine) that appears on page 68 of our "Artists in Aprons" magazine:
Enlarging our patterns is easy!
Here’s what women across the U.S. are saying on
the Farmgirl Connection about using our patterns:
"I took MaryJane’s book with me into town this afternoon to a print shop and got the pattern enlarged the 400% it calls for. It only cost $1.25 to enlarge it. I took the book with me to JoAnne’s, too, to try and find some material similar to the picture. The girls in JoAnne’s were asking what I was making. I showed them the picture and they really liked it too."
Cheryl, Port Angeles, Washington
"OK, I took MaryJane’s book to Office Depot and got it enlarged 400% for 87 cents. I am in the process of taping together the papers from the enlargement, cutting them out, etc. I placed the cut-out pattern pieces up on my sewing mannequin, Andrea—she is about a size 8–10, and the pattern pieces look like they will fit her perfectly. So I am now in the process of altering the pattern to fit a plus-size farmgirl (me). I’ll let you know how it goes. I plan on cutting them out later on Sunday after cutting them out in paper first and fitting them. Then I will redo a permanent pattern. Are there any other plus-size farmgirls out here besides me?"
Georgann, Midlothian, Virginia
"The average size in the U.S. now for women is 12 or 14. Don’t get me started on how Hollywood shapes our ideas of what is beautiful and acceptable and what is not."
Patricia, Salt Lake City, Utah
"I am going to work out a muslin prototype from MaryJane’s Everyday Apron in the 20–24 size range. I think that it will be very lovely when done. I really like the shape of it and the drape. I was thinking of trying to start a home sewing business for the plus-size aprons. I kinda like this name for it: Abundant Blessings {Heavenly Aprons for the Big-hearted Farmgirl.} Is that a little too corny?"
Georgann, Midlothian, Virginia
"I didn’t go to Kinko’s. I just measured the lines on the page with a ruler and took a heavy black marker and drew it out on newspaper. If the line in the book was 2 inches long, to blow it up 400%, I drew a line 8 inches long. I didn’t want to tear the page out of the book!"
Brenda, Ohio
"I enlarged the apron pattern I got with the farmgirl tote I ordered from MaryJane. I used freezer paper and drew a 1"-square grid and just re-drew the 1/4" squares on the pattern. It went fast and I enjoyed it!"
Karen, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
Thanks everyone, and we hope you continue to enjoy our patterns!
Carol
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, red wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming 'WOO HOO, what a ride!'"
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| Leezard |
Posted - Feb 07 2007 : 11:40:45 AM
No, you're not the only one...it is kind of hard to buy a pattern that you've got to pay extra to use-yes, I know there are ways to enlarge it by drawing it on your own but I don't generally have the time to do that nor the patience, I'll admit it...lol I will say that the one I did have enlarged at the copy shop has held up quite well through about 15 cuttings and seems that it will hold up for several more and for storage I just fold it up and put it in a manila envelope. Not that that those things make the cost better, just wanted to through out my experience with doing it that way.
http://ruby--slippers.blogspot.com/ |
| SarahJ |
Posted - Feb 07 2007 : 10:57:33 AM
No Faith, I've also had this problem. Even when I have enlarged the pattern, the regular paper (as opposed to "pattern paper")gives a novice sewer like me difficulty. The paper was stiff, not easily manuevered, and took enough damage during the pinning process that the pattern will have a limited life. In other words, I do not see it holding up. Storage also became a problem. |
| faithymom |
Posted - Feb 07 2007 : 10:41:57 AM
I love the apron styles that MJ has, but I haven't bought any of them for this reason.
If I have to pay for $8-12 for a pattern that I then have to pay to make usable, why bother? (Especially when I can get a pattern I can use immediately from a store for $4 max!)
Am I alone in feeling this way?
Faith
"All television is educational television. The only question is, what is it teaching?"-Fmr. FCC Commissioner Nicholas Johnson |
| Leezard |
Posted - Feb 07 2007 : 10:16:39 AM
Kathy, if you don't mind my asking, what was the cost of your enlargement?
I went that route as well and mine cost about $10 so I was just curious what others had found in cost.
http://ruby--slippers.blogspot.com/ |
| knewslady |
Posted - Feb 07 2007 : 08:54:01 AM
I took mine to an office supply place that has a wide format enlarger and they did it for me for a very reasonable price.
Kathy
Will always be a farmgirl at heart |
| faithymom |
Posted - Feb 07 2007 : 08:50:54 AM
I tried to do this at the library and I had a hard time...
You're supposed to be able to just cut it on the copy machine and set it to enlarge it and then it does...I got a BIG copy of the center of the pattern I was enlarging, but not the outer pieces...
My solution would be to just measure the 'pattern' and multiply that by 4 and then transfer that line to newspaper...
Good luck,
Faith
"All television is educational television. The only question is, what is it teaching?"-Fmr. FCC Commissioner Nicholas Johnson |
