If you have ever seen someone sewing clothes, the first step involves is the cutting of the fabric and then they stitch it together using sewing machine or needle. There are many ways for marking a fabric for cutting. Professional and experienced tailors just mark the fabric by hand. Then there is the foolproof method of printing out the layout and use dressmaker pins to attach it to the fabric before cutting the fabric using the layout as the guide.
Finally a much more modern method is to use a projector for projecting the layout using the PDF layout files on to the fabric laid out on a table. Then the dressmaker can cut the fabric using the layout being projected on to the fabric.
If you have multiple PDF files containing the cutting pattern or layouts, then you can modify it easily using a software called PDF Stitcher. This tool was developed by computer scientist Charlotte Curtiss when she started cutting/sewing using the projector method.
In its user interface, we can select the PDF input file that contains the fabric cutting layout. We can then choose an output file which is the PDF file saved in the end. Under the page range we can choose only the pages containing the actual layout and leave out any pages that contain text, instructions or anything non-layout.
We can add margins to the PDF file so that some space is left between the edges of the PDF pages and the actual pattern. Margins give you extra space for moving the layout and adjusting its location through the projector.
The layers can be unlocked or hidden under the layers tab. Similarly, there are options to tile the pages from under the tile pages tab. Finally, you can save the new PDF file with all these changes made by clicking on the Generate PDF button.
PDF Stitcher is a very useful tool to have for all the sewists who use projector method of cutting the fabric. It can be a life saver when you are working on PDF file containing sewing patterns.
You can download PDF Stitcher from https://www.pdfstitcher.org/.