Best Way To Make A Pattern?

[Skald]

So. I "reverse engineered" a Timberland wallet, that I had actually never used - so it was a quite big step to do so with a quite expensive accessory like this one.

I did so because it's a wallet without "coin purse", and I have a problem using those. The idea is however to make some small adjustments, and include a coin purse from another pattern I have. But that's another story.

So, I have all these little nice pieces of the wallet I took apart, but I am not sure really how to deal with it the best way possible. I am thinking of laying them on top of a large piece of quite thin but sturdy plastic, draw them up and simply cut them out. I can't really think of any problem in doing so, and it seems to be the best way to do it IMHO.

Have you done anything similar? or do you have any better suggestions? I first thought of making a "copy" of the whole thing in Illustrator, simply measuring every piece and drawing them as paths. But it might be a lot of work for something less usable? Given that I'd have to print and cut each piece every time I was about to make a new wallet, or at least as soon as the paper pieces were worn out.

[WinterBear]

Hi Skald. I've been using "stencil blanks". The pattern pieces I make can wipe clean, don't get crumpled, and I can mark what each piece is. It's a thin plastic sheet, similar in flexibility and sturdiness to a CraftAid. It usually is about 12 mil thick, but you can sometimes get it in the 4 to 14 mil range. The 12 mil can be cut with an Xacto or shears, it's cheap, and I can use a woodburning tip to cut out really fine details. It will sometimes have a pebbled side for "grip", but if your leather is damp, the surface tension of the water holds it in place just fine while tracing.

I've tried using thicker plastics, but it's harder to cut pieces from and won't always "cling". Acetate film/overhead transparency film is too thin and can be crushed accidentally, plus the edges will wear after more than 20 or 30 tracings. Scrapbook vellum is hit or miss in quality around here and doesn't seem to last long anyway.

Hope this helps?

[Skald]

Hi Skald. I've been using "stencil blanks". The pattern pieces I make can wipe clean, don't get crumpled, and I can mark what each piece is. It's a thin plastic sheet, similar in flexibility and sturdiness to a CraftAid. It usually is about 12 mil thick, but you can sometimes get it in the 4 to 14 mil range. The 12 mil can be cut with an Xacto or shears, it's cheap, and I can use a woodburning tip to cut out really fine details. It will sometimes have a pebbled side for "grip", but if your leather is damp, the surface tension of the water holds it in place just fine while tracing.

I've tried using thicker plastics, but it's harder to cut pieces from and won't always "cling". Acetate film/overhead transparency film is too thin and can be crushed accidentally, plus the edges will wear after more than 20 or 30 tracings. Scrapbook vellum is hit or miss in quality around here and doesn't seem to last long anyway.

Hope this helps?

Never seen that kind of plastic, but it seems interesting. I don't know the definition of "mil" really, but I'll try to find out what it equals in millimeters.

The kind of plastic that I got, is what covers these large posters outside supermarkets etc. It withstands bending and tearing without cracking up, but is quite easy to cut anyway. But I suppose I'll run out of it sooner or later, so it's good to know a new source of good plastic for patterns.

I started making the whole pattern in Illustrator yesterday however, because the pieces I got from the wallet will be quite hard to trace on plastic if I want to make it good. So when I am done, I think I'll print them and stick them to the plastic sheets I got with this "temporary glue spray" I got, and cut the pieces out carefully.

[TigerPal]

One "mil" equals 1/1,000 inch, or roughly .0255 mm.

[Gawdzilla]

If you have a printer/scanner/copier you can scan in the pieces and manipulate them as you wish. I've taken pieces that I've scanned and doubled the size, then added the bits of the original image to get the hole pattern correct. I suggest saving the scans in greyscale or b&w rather than color. I also add pieces of paper with "information" to the scans, so the image has the name of the pattern, the rough sizes, etc. You can add this later in your photo program, but I'm taking notes anyway, so the snippets of info are already available.

[$$hobby]

there are many ways to look at this problem and what you do may depend on what tools/resourses you have at hand or access to.

> you can use a xerox machine and just photocopy them onto paper. If you need to +/- them, the machine can do that too. if you want something more robust, glue them to some plastic/aluminum/fiberboard/posterboard or whatever you have or can buy.

> you can scan them and then play with the edges/holes and stuff. Then do the same as above.

> you can also project them onto your leather if you have a projector.

you have to think inside and outside the box too.

[jstrm1]

I believe it was in this forum several months ago that I saw & responded to this tip: If you have a feed store in your area, they have some cardboard that comes in on the shipping pallets. It works great for patterns & its free.

[WinterBear]

Never seen that kind of plastic, but it seems interesting. I don't know the definition of "mil" really, but I'll try to find out what it equals in millimeters.

The kind of plastic that I got, is what covers these large posters outside supermarkets etc. It withstands bending and tearing without cracking up, but is quite easy to cut anyway. But I suppose I'll run out of it sooner or later, so it's good to know a new source of good plastic for patterns.

I started making the whole pattern in Illustrator yesterday however, because the pieces I got from the wallet will be quite hard to trace on plastic if I want to make it good. So when I am done, I think I'll print them and stick them to the plastic sheets I got with this "temporary glue spray" I got, and cut the pieces out carefully.

If you want, I have some odds and ends of that plastic, and a few other types, that I could give you. That way you could play with it a bit and see what you think of it. I could mail a few pieces in a flat rate envelope.