Illustrator sewing patterns: tile and keep your layers
Illustrator can tile your pattern, or keep its size layers, but not both in one step.
Print with Tile Full Pages goes through the print dialog, and what comes out of a print dialog isn't a layered PDF: every size is printed on every page, with no way to switch one off. There are no tile IDs or alignment marks either.
The way that keeps layers is one artboard per page, laid out by hand, saved as a PDF with Acrobat layers. That's a grid of artboards for A4, another for US Letter, more for A0 and 36 × 48 in, and a projector copy with every line thickened. Then again at the next release.
Every format from one Illustrator master
- 1
Set up your layers
Make one top-level layer per size in the Layers panel (S, M, L), and shared layers whose names start with an underscore (_grainlines, _notches, _test). Acrobat layers come from top-level layers only, so a size inside another layer stays with that layer. Sublayers and groups inside a size's layer are fine.
- 2
Upload your master
Upload the .ai file itself. Illustrator saves a PDF inside it (Create PDF Compatible File, on by default), with real units and your top-level layers, and that's what Sewpress reads. A PDF saved with Create Acrobat Layers from Top-Level Layers ticked works the same way. Several artboards are fine if each piece is whole on one of them: Sewpress places them side by side and treats layers with the same name as one. Artboards that are already tiles are refused, because every piece would come out cut.
- 3
Check the scale and layers
Illustrator writes SVG at 72 units per inch, while browsers and Inkscape read 96, so an Illustrator SVG measures 75%. Uploading the .ai or a PDF avoids it. If you do upload an SVG, the inspection screen shows the 75 mm square and fixes it with one click.
- 4
Build every format
Sewpress places your master once and builds tiled A4 and Letter, A0 and 36 × 48 in sheets and a projector file, each with one layer per size, and measures the test square in every file.
Test builds are free and every page is marked TEST COPY, so you and your testers can print and project the real files; they're kept 30 days. Clean files to sell are $12 a release, or 5 for $39, 20 for $119.
What each format needs, and doing it by hand
Every format also needs each size on its own layer, so sewists print or project only theirs.
Tiled A4 and US Letter
- Pages laid out separately for A4 and for US Letter, since neither fits the other
- An overlap between pages, with alignment marks on the shared edges
- A tile ID on every page and an assembly map on page 1
- The test square on page 1, and print scaling switched off
By hand in Illustrator: An artboard per page, typed into place, separately for A4 and Letter, with labels and marks on their own layer, saved as a layered PDF. Or Print with Tile to a PDF printer, which flattens your layers.
A0 and 36 × 48 in copyshop sheets
- Sheets at the real paper size: A0 (841 × 1189 mm) and Arch E (36 × 48 in)
- As few sheets as possible, turned whichever way fits better
- A test square on every sheet
By hand in Illustrator: One artboard per sheet at A0 and another set at 36 × 48 in, with pieces rearranged for each, then a PDF save per sheet size.
A projector file
- Everything on one wide page, A0 landscape or bigger
- Lines two to three times heavier than print lines, including inside groups
- A test square and marks to calibrate the projection
By hand in Illustrator: A duplicate of the master with every stroke thickened, including inside groups and symbols, saved as one big page with layers kept.
Questions
- Why did my Illustrator PDF lose its layers?
- Usually the sizes were sublayers rather than top-level layers, Create Acrobat Layers from Top-Level Layers wasn't ticked, or the PDF came out of the Print dialog.
- Can I upload a file I've already tiled?
- No. Upload the master from before tiling, with every piece whole. Sewpress does the tiling, and refuses a file whose pieces run off the edge of a page.
- Do I need to save a PDF at all?
- No. The .ai file carries a PDF inside it unless Create PDF Compatible File was turned off when you saved.