02/13/2026
Putting this on the grid in hopes it’ll be useful to someone. My large format pattern printer is kind of a pain in the ass, and is expensive. Ink cartridges dry out because it doesn’t get used daily, and I have to keep the color cartridges full even though I only print black and white, and media on a roll is relatively expensive. In addition, my workflow has changed, and I generally don’t need durable patterns for everything, since I’m iterating on patterns. On top of that, my old process was print pattern>cut pattern>transfer to fabric>cut fabric: too many steps.
My solution? An inexpensive projector, connected to my laptop over WiFi. I can project my pattern directly onto the fabric, mark it, and cut it, or in some cases, just rotary cut without marking. It took some tinkering to get it dialed in, but it should be easy to calibrate every time I use it. Anybody else doing it this way? It would have been a massive help before I finally bit the bullet and bought an expensive printer, though back then I’d imagine quality projectors cost a lot more.
