I hesitated writing this post because I worry that readers will say “duh Ros, can’t believe you didn’t know this!” But I felt that way before I wrote this post about zippers, and it has become one of my most popular and most pinned posts, so I figure I’ll help someone!
Like many of you, the majority of patterns I use for my sewing projects are by independent designers who sell their patterns as downloadable PDF files. Which is great BUT there is a lot of printing and paper wastage.
Until…I was chatting on the phone to my lovely friend Amy and she said “grab your iPad and I’ll show you what I mean about that pattern.”
Me: “Umm why would I grab my iPad?”
Amy: “Don’t you save your patterns as an ebook so you can sit the iPad next to you when you sew?”
Me: “PLEASE SHOW ME THIS STROKE OF GENIUS RIGHT NOW!”
So full credit for this tutorial goes to Amy because she taught me how to do this. It has been a game changer – it is so handy to have the pattern sitting right next to me when I sew without having to mess around with lots of paper.
So basically, you save your PDFs into the iBooks app and you can use them like an ebook. Then the only printing you need to do is your pattern pieces. You can also use this very same tutorial to save your patterns into your iPhone.
First, you need to get your saved PDFs to your iPad. I just attached them to an email and sent them to myself.
Open the email and tap the symbol and your file will begin to download.
Once it’s downloaded, tap the PDF symbol and this will open your pattern.
Once your PDF is open, go to the top right hand corner and tap the share arrow.
You will get a few options depending on the various apps you have on
your device. I like to keep my patterns all together in the one place,
so I choose ‘Open in iBooks’.
And that’s it! Once you’ve opened your pattern in iBooks it will automatically save it in there so you can go back to it anytime. Save them all in there, and you will have a lovely bookshelf full of patterns.
Never would have thought of that. Ever! I have them all on my MacBook, but it's a hot mess to dig through them. I see a new project for me and my iPad this week. Thank you!!!
Enjoy your weekend 🙂 Cindy
Haha, I was just wondering the other day how I could do this to my iPhone! Never got around to trying anything, but now I know! Thanks!!
Man, I feel silly never doing this either. I have non apple devices I'll have to give this a try!
Thanks for the Prefontaine live too! 😉
*love
I really dislike pdf patterns because of the extreme waste of paper and ink. I avoid them like the plague. I will have to give this a try. Is there a way to save them to icloud so you don't use all your free space on the ipad?
Thanks for this tutorial!
Not sure about the iCloud Pam – I'll try and find out for you!
I do this I have patterns, woodwork plans my digital bottle caps iBooks is only for PDFs and I use the kindle ap for my books. I think it is a great idea to share the idea. I love having all my things in the one place
Your so clever Ros 🙂
So clever! I never realised you could do this until you showed me.
Great idea!! Thanks for sharing !! Love…..ALLYour ideas !! Sewnbyleanne@gmail.com
Thanks Leanne!
Yep – all my patterns are saved in iBooks and I love it. They all look so pretty lined up and I find I now just print the pages I need cause it is so easy to read on the iPad. Great tutorial x
I save them on the Kindle on my IPad. this works for me.
Yep Kindle app works great too!
That is pretty genius, I always have my laptop on my sewing desk but it takes up way too much precious room!
Thanks Alisa! I used to do that too so I was thrilled when I discovered this method!
Never thought of putting them on the iPad, Ros. Now to transfer them all over. Thanks for posting!!!
very good!!!
thanks!
hugs
MF
THANK YOU FOR THIS! I never thought of that!
Thanks for sharing this tidbit! I use Google Drive to save all my pdf patterns – there is an app on the iPhone for it and I can access them from my Kindle or any computer – you can also share things with other people through Drive. It's super helpful because I always have them on hand but they're on the mysterious 'cloud' so they don't take up space on my device. An option for Android users or IOS users alike.
I don't have an ipad but I just wanted to say it made me happy seeing the FPL pattern up there on the shelf 😉
Muchisimas gracias por esta explicación!
Thank you !!
thats awesome I have to try doing this for my galaxy tab 🙂
I consider myself computer savvy, but this I did not know. Thanks for the tute, like the saying goes, "you can learn something new everyday."
Yes this works great but how about a pattern that's just posted in your blog, how can I save that into iBooks instead of reading list……
Unfortunately you can't do it unless the pattern or tutorial is available in a PDF format. Best thing to do would be to bookmark it in your internet browser for easy access or pin it if you use Pinterest. Hope that helps 🙂
Not sure if it is but here it is anyway …. Vtcamper53@gmail.com
OMG guess who just got an iPad Air as a present from hubby yesterday! And the first order of business is to put all of my patterns in the ibooks file <3 <3 <3
Never even thought to do this!! Thank you so much for sharing the how-to. I know what I'll be doing over the next few days!
I save all my patterns to Dropbox, so it syncs with all devices. I do like how these are displayed with the images, so you can see which pattern is which though!
Yes I love dropbox as well! I also save a lot of PDFs and photos to my Google Drive.