Best way to resize human patterns for sds

This is a tutorial on resizing. The pictures aren't working, but the instructions are still there. Plus a link to another site. Hope it helps.

 

Alternate method, if you have digital/print at home patterns (like from BurdaStyle)

Figure out which size of the pattern you've got is best for your doll. (Multiply your measurements by three and compare to the pattern's size instructions.) Make a note of that and set it aside.

Look for that diagram where it shows you how all of the pages of your print-at-home pattern fit together. If you're lucky, it'll be in a vector image so no detail gets lost. Copy that image. (If you're using a mac and can view your pattern in preview, use the rectangular selection tool, not the screenshot tool.) There should be a test square in it somewhere, so you can make sure your printer is sizing things right. In the pattern I used, it was 10cm by 10cm. We can use that to scale the pattern.

In a word processor, draw a square 1/3 of the test square's size, a scale-square. Paste your pattern image and resize it until the test square matches the scale-square. Most of your pattern will be off the page now, most likely. Copy your scaled image to your clipboard and repaste it onto different pages until you'll be able to puzzle-piece it together and see the whole picture when you print it. Delete your scale-square.

Print the document and glue the sections of the pattern together. Cut out the version that matches the size you chose at the beginning. You might need to reference the original, unscaled version of the pattern to make sure you're always getting the right bits; the fun dotted/dashes lines are kind of hard to distinguish when you scale them down.

At some point in all this, you might want to add a new seam allowance because whatever that scaled as, if a seam allowance was part of the pattern, it's going to be a pain to wrangle now. Not sure what you can get away with at 1/3 scale; I usually use 1/2 cm at 1/4 scale, but that's purely because I do a lot of hand sewing and can eyeball it.

Make a test version out of something like paper towels and a glue stick to check fit before beginning. Your mileage may vary depending on what pattern company you're using and just how true to scale your dolls' proportions actually are.

 

Similar to the Burda method, I've scanned (or photocopied, in the past) the backs of pattern envelopes that show all the pattern pieces, and scaled it up to doll size. You do have to check that the pattern layout is to scale, because sometimes it's not, and the pieces wont fit together when you enlarge them. It tends to be vintage patterns that show the pieces on the envelope, but don't have the pattern layout on the instruction sheet.

You can also enlarge pattern layouts from photos of the backs of pattern envelopes, which is really useful when you want to sew vintage styles for your dolls, but the patterns are unavailable in print.

 

If you own the pattern, the instruction pamphlets also have all the pieces shown and numbered (with a key at the bottom on what goes to which) and they're going to be bigger than the back of the pattern envelope