To PDF of not PDF: that is the question. Well, a question. Probably not the question.

In the year in a half that I've been selling patterns, I've physically carried more than 650 patterns down to the post office. In the beginning, I hand traced each one but I ran out of gusto (and time) after I'd traced my way through more than 400 metres of paper. About a year ago I found a lovely large scale printer which I've never, ever regretted doing. But quite often I'm asked, 'Can you send it to me as a PDF?' and the answer has always been no (unless they have access to a large scale printer in which case it's yes). But yesterday my print reorder came like this:

Sodden box courtesy of DHL, ripped box courtesy of fury

I knew that the order was coming so I stayed inside my very small house all day WITH THE CHILDREN ( yes, this deserves capitals and bold and italics) to accept the delivery. When Steven came home from work in the evening, he came bearing the box that had been left out in the rain. They hadn't bother to ring the buzzer. Here is the stack of prints with their wet cardboard-stained folds and edges:

Vintage tea-stained patterns

My lovely printers have lived up to their lovely reputation and sent out another box today, but it's made me question again: should I be offering PDFs?

Personally, I'm not a fan of PDF patterns unless it is something I require urgently. The last one I ordered was two hundred pages, and there's no way I'm going to print all of that because a) that's insane, b) I never have ink in the printer and c) that's insane. So let's say I just print the pattern pieces and read the tutorial on the computer screen. The means I either have to use my Jedi mind tricks to memorise all of the instructions or I have to continually tromp back and forth between sewing machine and computer. And let's face it, if I'm on the computer anyway, I should probably check my email and my Facebook and my blogroll and then tell everyone how much I hate PDFs on Twitter and then everyone will be all 'LOL, me too!' and suddenly it's 3AM. And the pages and pages of pattern pieces I printed? They all need to be taped together in a very intricate fashion and then cut out. Or cut out and then taped together intricately, I can't remember. Hold on, let me check the computer.... I've found that although PDFs are quick in their virtual delivery, they are decidedly unquick in practice (at least at the first use).

There's some things I really like about paper patterns:

• the excitement of receiving it in the post
  
• the physical presence of the instructions by my side
  
• the ability (should I be feeling mental) of cutting the pattern right there and now
• dare I say it??... paper printed patterns and instructions just feel more professional
  

But the case for PDFs still intrigues:

• once I spend 1,000,000 hours cutting all my patterns into little tiny pieces and scanning them in I won't need to go to the Post Office in the rain any more
• they're easily stored on my computer so I can work from anywhere without a suitcase full of paper, likewise they are stored on the buyers' computers and they can print them at will
  
• some consumers want things now and don't like waiting for the post
  
• costs will be kept down (and profit maximised) by lack of printing and shipping costs
• they sell very, very, very, well (although a disturbing number of people sell them for about £1.38 and thereby do all designers a major disservice, themselves included... but that's a whole different post)

So, what does everyone think about PDF patterns? I know some people like them but I do not. And if I didn't go to the Post Office every evening how would I get my 15 minutes of peace from the dementors?

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