To assemble your pattern, you will need scissors or an exacto knife and a glue stick or tape. Cut off the right and bottom edges of each sheet only; this ensures you have a bit of paper to glue the next sheet to. We often get questions about where exactly to cut; straight down the middle of the line is the most accurate. If you don't see that light grey border line on your sheets, make sure the Text layer is turned on!
Once each sheet is trimmed, start assembling the pattern in rows. I prefer to do one row at a time, and then glue them all together at the end. This also ensures you can visualize where a natural break is (ie. where pattern pieces don't intersect with the bounding box) so you don't need to make a mega sheet. Glue sticks are easiest, but feel free to go to town with tape as well.
Follow the numbered guides to assemble your pattern in the correct order. At CCP, we give each row the same number, and then each page in that row a letter. That way it's easy to make your row.
Overlap your sheets and then glue or tape them together. If things don't line up *exactly*, don't have a cow, man. You may need to "true" or smooth to your line when you cut everything out but as long as it's not crazy distorted you should be fine.
Once you have your pages assembled, it's time to cut it out! You can of course use scissors, but for the speed demons among us, using an Exacto blade or an old rotary blade (for paper only!) on a self-healing matt takes no time at all. And if you're feeling super fancy, invest in a pattern notcher. It makes the cleanest cuts and makes it super easy to see your notches when you're cutting your fabric.
And that's it! From there everything is the same as an old school tissue pattern. At the studio, we are total PDF converts since you can mark, grade, or draft directly onto your printed pattern. Best of all, if you decide to make it again you can use the same one or print out a fresh one and make new adjustments or try a new size. If you've never tried a PDF, we highly suggest trying it out! You'll be surprised by how fast and easy it is.