Projectors for Sewing

Spoiler alert… I love my projector!

For a while now, I’ve been both skeptical and intrigued by the idea of at home projectors for sewing. I learned about this concept a few years ago and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, picture this: no more printing, tiling, taping, glueing, paying for large format prints, or waiting to cut into fabric. Instead you simply project images of your pdf sewing pattern onto your fabric and begin cutting. Sounds too good to be true, right?

Right, it is too good to be true. While projector sewing actually IS that easy after the initial set up, the set up phase isn’t for the faint of heart. Once you’ve done all your research and purchased the right projector for your space, you need to do something called calibrating. This process entails projecting an image onto your cutting surface and making sure that it’s the correct size. You basically tinker with the zoom in/out function on your computer and move the projector around until the image is projecting perfectly to scale. It sounds simple, and technically it is, but everyone’s experience varies and a lot of people need at least a few hours to get the image just right.

My Experience

So let’s chat about my experience. After deciding that I wanted to purchase a projector, I did a small deep dive into my options before taking the plunge and buying a Mini Projector on Amazon. After drilling it into the ceiling and beginning the calibration process, I realized that the projection size was about big enough for one pocket bag. Yeah, that’s right. I said a single pocket bag.

At this point I was a bit frustrated and didn’t understand why the image was so tiny even though I had the recommended distance between the projector and the cutting surface. Well, it turns out that the recommendation was actually for the minimum distance required for the image to project properly, but that didn’t mean it was going to project large. So a word to the wise, if you’re thinking about purchasing a Mini Projector, you’ll likely either need to cut on the floor or have cathedral ceilings for the projection size to be functional.

Of course I returned that projector and went back to the drawing board, or should I say that I actually did my research this time… lol. What I found is that there are different types of projectors: Mini Projectors, Short Throw Projectors, and Ultra Short Throw Projectors. While I’m not an expert, my conclusion was that Ultra Short Throw Projectors, or UST’s are the best option for pretty much everyone. They’re great for big cutting surfaces and small cutting surfaces, they don’t need to be mounted to a wall, and they’re relatively affordable. You can learn more about the different types of projectors on this blog post from projectorsewing.com. Honestly, that website is a wealth of knowledge, so I highly recommend checking it out!

With some research and some help from the Projectors for Sewing FaceBook group, I decided to purchase the Epson Powerlite 475W, which is a UST projector. I purchased it for just $75 from an Ebay seller that specializes in used projectors for sewing! You can check out his inventory here (affiliate link). He’s super knowledgable and helped me choose the right projector for my situation.

The projector showed up within a few days and I immediately tried to calibrate it, but for some reason, I couldn’t get the image to project at the right size. I swear I tried everything, so I reached out to in the Projectors for Sewing FaceBook group once again. It turns out that the HDMI cord that I was using to connect my computer to the projector was the issue. It was brand new from Best Buy, but for whatever reason it didn’t want to function properly. I ended up purchasing a different brand, and the problem was instantly fixed! What a relief.

Sooo now what?

I’ve had my projector for 2 months now and I can honestly say that it’s one of the best investments I’ve made for my sewing practice. As a pattern designer, I was going through hundreds of sheets of paper and about $40 worth of ink each month, not to mention all the time involved in tiling the patterns together. Buying a projector was a natural progression and has already saved me so much time and money. I seriously couldn’t recommend it enough! I hope that by me sharing my fails and offering some helpful resources, you’ll feel empowered to dive into the projector sewing world. It’s really not that scary and its so damn worth it.