traising patterns

[minowevie]

Hi All . I have been tracing patterns for 3 days. 1 pattern. really. and wow what a job. This is a old pattern. back in the 18oos. all black . so i thought i would trace it to give it some lines to fallow with my saw blade. for if i did it without it . i would loose my blade. and get cross eyed. lol. skuz spelling.
is there a better way to copey a pattern? also this is a large pattern. about 2 buy 3 '. just about done. but don't know if my tracing is good enouph. took a framing square. to squre it up. i normaly go to stapels to copy my patterns. but they can't do this size. HELP> your friend Evie

[arbarnhart]

We have a regular sized copier at home and I fold and/or slide and hold big patterns to do part at a time then tape them back together. I sometimes blow them up or shrink them down. Take a look at this:



That butterfly is an ornament pattern out of SSW.

[Old Mooner]

Evie--
I don't know where you live, but the Staples where I live can copy patterns much larger than 2'X3'. I have had some done that were almost 3'X4' at that store. Maybe each store has different capabilities.
Moon

[SharonW0111]

The best and most used tool in my shop is my lazer copier.. I bought a almost new one - not a color mind you but a very good one - for $150. through our local want ads. Be sure to get one that reduces and enlarges .you can download from some of the free pattern sites and make a copy and spray adheseve that - thus saving your original. Sure is a life saver on the fingers and the time. I took a tiny doll cradle and blew it up to 26 inches and made a super 1800 fretwork cradle for my grand for Christmas... Was the best present I could have ever given her because it will last for a few generations and a lot of love and work went into it- besides the time- whew My arm and shoulders are still sore from sanding... Any who- Invest in a copier -besure it reduces and enlarges and you can't go wrong.
Sharon

[jttheclockman]

I have found that Kinkos has the best copiers and the truest. I know the Staples and Office Max by me, the copiers are not as reliable. The copies come out askewed some times. Need to pay attention to that. The Kinkos also has a Cad drawer so you can make any size copies and you can do them yourself. I found when I do take a copy and make it in sections I always draw a reference line so when I put the pieces together I match the reference lines and can't go wrong.

[CanadianScroller]

Back in my school days, we would scribble on the back of a picture just around the edges we wanted to trace. Then we flipped the original over and placed it on a plain piece of paper. When we drew along the outside edges of the original it would transfer some of the pencil lead from the back side to the plain paper.

One advantage of this was you could easily follow the original because you were drawing right on it. One disadvantage was it made a mess of the original.

Evie, I think one of the reasons you were tracing is because the original was solid black and you wanted a line to follow rather than a black blob. You could go to a sewing store and pick up some transfer paper. Place it between your original and a blank sheet then follow the patter with a stylus.
If you tape the original and the blank sheet only on the top edge you can flip the sheet to see your progress and still have everything line up.

If all you want is a photocopy of the original many print shops can handle that size, so can places that handle blueprints. I go to City Hall, it helps because I work there I still pay a pretty penny for big photocopies but it is less that buying the same pattern over and over.

[harrisg]

Evie, if you can't find any other place take it to a place that reproduces blueprints. There not blue anymore. They're like a big black and white photocopy. I'm sure you'll find some in the Yellow Pages. Good luck

Harris

[Woodbutcher68]

A few years ago I built a lighthouse from a Meisels pattern. I took the original pattern to work and had one of the engineers make me a couple of copies. I traced a couple of the parts on some plywood and started making the sub-assemblies. I started running into fit-up problems and got out the tape measure. Some of the pieces were an inch too long! I went back and measured the pieces on the original pattern and then on the copy. The copier had stretched the patterns (not enlarged), up to an inch in some areas! It wasn't noticeable unless it had stretched the lettering, then it was obvious. The engineer who had done it for me didn't have an explanation for it. (If you really want to screw things up, get an engineer involved!)
I bought some more wood and traced from the original from that point on.
Just a little something to watch out for!

[jttheclockman]

What Woodbutcher said was what I was trying to say with some copiers in these serve yourself copy places. I know the older copiers were notorias for this. I have found Kinkos to be dead on accurate with the copiers they use. To check if you are getting good copies just put the original and the copy back to back and hold it up to the light and you will see if the lines match.

[Greenfield_Bob]

I use to think the pattern makers were putting out bad patterns but I found out I was making bad copies. The copier I now use is much better.
John's idea of holding the copy up to the pattern is a good idea, wish I'd thought of that a long time ago.

Bob