Originally published on the Blue Mountain Stable Blogspot, March 2017.
Want to Create Super Clean Computer Graphics of Your Saddle Plans? Here's How!
Other hobbyists have written some great articles on making patterns, such as Jennifer Buxton's planning and drawing methods, the Kareokee books or Anna Helt's stablemate English saddle making guide, and today's tutorial expands upon those industry practices with a digital twist: vectoring!
Vectorizing is a trick I learned in the graphic design profession and is a handy approaching to creating very clean patterns that you can then print on cardstock or bring forth into alternative production techniques (more on that with up coming guest author, Pat Coulter, when she writes about using these vector pattern techniques with a Cricut cutter). Vectorizing can be done with Adobe Illustrator or similar program. Today's tutorial uses Illustrator, but the tools shown are basic and should be found in most all programs.
Vectorizing is a trick I learned in the graphic design profession and is a handy approaching to creating very clean patterns that you can then print on cardstock or bring forth into alternative production techniques (more on that with up coming guest author, Pat Coulter, when she writes about using these vector pattern techniques with a Cricut cutter). Vectorizing can be done with Adobe Illustrator or similar program. Today's tutorial uses Illustrator, but the tools shown are basic and should be found in most all programs.
What is Vector?
Unlike photo programs like Photoshop or paint programs like Microsoft Paint or Coral Painter, vector programs work off of math, not pixels. So all of your shapes and lines are made of linear equations rather than tiny squares of colors. The science behind it is an article all in itself, but all you need to know for our hobby is that a program based off of math equals far, far cleaner lines that you can also scale as large or as small as you want. You won't have to worry about your tiny drawings pixelating when you scale them up. That's right, this means stablemate patterns can be scaled for traditional and vice versa with ease. The are also very easy to edit once you have them down, making for quick updates through the years as your skills progress or as tack trends change. Vector is a tack maker's dream, so let's get started!
How to Get Started
First, grab the molds you want to make plans for and start making measurements. If you're making tack for stablemate showing, like I do, I recommend starting with these common molds.
There are three measurements that are crucial to making an in-scale saddle. The length of the withers to the bottom girth line, the length of wither to the level of the point of shoulder, and the length of wither to almost that last rib bone, as indicated in the three green lines. This is what you'll need to make sure the tree of your saddle isn't too long on the back and the saddle too deep along the sides, or too short.
Next, grab your reference! See the green lines on this saddle? That will equal my measurements of the wither to rib bone and wither to point of shoulder.
To begin my drawing, I don't start with the saddle. I first draw out those green lines at the size they need to be for the mold I'm making the saddle for and then I draw the saddle. Notice how I only drew part of the saddle, rather than the whole pattern? That's actually all I need, since I'll be using the computer to create a perfect mirror of the other side. More on that in a second. Once you've drawn half of your main saddle part and all the other parts you'll need like the underskirt, jokey, knee rolls, etc, scan them into your computer (I absolutely recommend a scanner rather than your camera or camera phone if you want a perfect replica, which is crucial to this whole process).
To begin my drawing, I don't start with the saddle. I first draw out those green lines at the size they need to be for the mold I'm making the saddle for and then I draw the saddle. Notice how I only drew part of the saddle, rather than the whole pattern? That's actually all I need, since I'll be using the computer to create a perfect mirror of the other side. More on that in a second. Once you've drawn half of your main saddle part and all the other parts you'll need like the underskirt, jokey, knee rolls, etc, scan them into your computer (I absolutely recommend a scanner rather than your camera or camera phone if you want a perfect replica, which is crucial to this whole process).
Tools and Creating the Patterns
There are two tools you will use in your vector program: the pen tool and the stroke tool (in Illustrator, the pen tool is the top left circled item, the stroke tool is the bottom left circled item, and the panel on the right controls the settings of the stroke.
Before you can use the Pen tool, you have to set your stroke. See that bottom left circled tool? Make sure the line box is on top, like it is here, and that it is set to a color that works for you (black is great if you just want to print your patterns on cardstock and cut them out). Now, open the stroke panel (shown in the right circled area) and adjust the thickness of your stroke. I recommend 0.01 inches as it creates a line just fine enough for precise patterns (especially for stablemate pattern making) without being so thin that you can't easily see it.
Now, to use the Pen tool, click on it and then click on the area in your document that you want to start. This creates a little blue square called an anchor point, the start of your line. Click again and ta-da, you have a line! However, it's a straight line and what we need for tack making are lots of curved lines. Thankfully, Illustrator has Bézier Curves, those little blue handles attached to the anchor point that lets you control the curve of your line by clicking on them and dragging them. To make your Bézier curves appear, start your line with one click and on the second click hold and drag to make the handles pop up (this also starts to curve your line and with a little practice you can create the perfect curve with just two clicks and never have to adjust the Bézier handles again). And that is all you need to know about the pen tool!
Now, to use the Pen tool, click on it and then click on the area in your document that you want to start. This creates a little blue square called an anchor point, the start of your line. Click again and ta-da, you have a line! However, it's a straight line and what we need for tack making are lots of curved lines. Thankfully, Illustrator has Bézier Curves, those little blue handles attached to the anchor point that lets you control the curve of your line by clicking on them and dragging them. To make your Bézier curves appear, start your line with one click and on the second click hold and drag to make the handles pop up (this also starts to curve your line and with a little practice you can create the perfect curve with just two clicks and never have to adjust the Bézier handles again). And that is all you need to know about the pen tool!
Now you know how to use these tools, it's time to bring in your hand drawings. Import them by going to File, then Import (or Place, depending on the program), or you can click and drag the scans into the program. Turn on your rulers and make sure your scans stay true to the size you drew them, then grab your pen tool and start drawing over the patterns. I also recommend creating a one inch line on your document so that you can check that your patterns printed out at the correct scale. Once you are done, you can click and delete the scans and you will then be left with clean, precise patterns.
The last step is to create the other halves. Select the patterns you want to flip and copy and paste them. Select the copies and flip them (in Illustrator, go to Object, then Reflect and choose vertical reflect in the pop-up window). Line these up and your are done!
What Now?
From here, you can print your patterns into cardstock and have perfect tools for making your saddles, but that's not all vector is good for! Stay tuned to this blog when I have guest author Pat Coulter write about her adventures in using vector patterns with a Cricut cutting machine. Not only is she looking into cutting patterns directly out of leather, she is also looking into the possibility of tooling with a Cricut. And while she does that, I'll be researching other cutting methods like laser cutting and will post tips and tutorials on that adventure here.