Adobe Illustrator to a projector file

What projector files need

• ✓Everything on one wide page, A0 landscape or bigger
• ✓Lines two to three times heavier than print lines, including inside groups
• ✓Every size on its own layer, so sewists show only theirs
• ✓A test square and marks to calibrate the projection

By hand, it's a duplicate of the master with every stroke thickened (including inside groups and symbols), saved as one big page with layers kept.

The Sewpress way, from Adobe Illustrator

1. 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). Sublayers and groups inside a layer are fine.

2. 2
   Export for Sewpress

   Save as Adobe PDF with “Create Acrobat Layers from Top-Level Layers” ticked. A PDF carries real units, so scale is never in doubt, and each top-level layer arrives as a PDF layer.

3. 3
   Upload and check

   Illustrator writes SVG at 72 units per inch, while browsers and Inkscape read 96, so an Illustrator SVG measures 75%. Saving a PDF avoids it; if you do upload an SVG, Sewpress spots the 75 mm square and rescales with one click.

4. 4
   Build projector files

   Sewpress places your master once and builds a projector file, measuring the test square in each.