15 Ways to Use Your Projector Besides Sewing

Last updated on September 28th, 2022 at 12:56 pm

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Projectors aren’t just for sewing! Learn 15 ways to use your projector besides sewing! Projectors for sewing is probably one of the most versatile tools in your sewing room. There are a lot of ways to use your newfound toy (ummm, I mean tool!) besides projecting patterns in your sewing room. Let’s see your printer do any of these!

If you are new to sewing with a projector, check out Which Projector is Right for You and head over to the Projectors page to see a list of recommended projectors for sewing.

1.     Movies

If you have a projector that is easy to remove from the mount, use it for movie night! Whether you are watching movies in your living room or doing an outdoor summer movie, a projector will be a big hit! Create a “drive in” movie by watching a movie outside while sitting in the back of your van or truck.

2.     Applique

Have you ever wanted to add pictures, letters, or names to your sewing makes? Now you can easily make an applique by hand and ensure it is the right size. Project the letter or image that you want to applique directly onto your sewing make. Adjust the zoom until it is the right size. Then, put the fabric you want to cut the applique out of under the projection. Trace out the image using a washable marker or tailor’s chalk. Cut out the image and applique to your sewing make!

3.     Sketch Pad

Now you can be an artist! Use the projector to project an image onto the table covered with posterboard or drawing paper. Use a Sharpie, marker, or pencil to trace the design onto the paper.

4.     Color pad for kids

Trying to entertain the kids while you get some sewing done? Open a free coloring page on your projector and roll out some art paper. Give them crayons, coloring pencils, or markers and let them color a GIANT coloring page.

There are many places online to get free coloring pages including: Crayola and Super Coloring Pages.

5. Cat Entertainment

Want to provide endless fun for your cats? They love the projector light anyway and maybe this will help you get sewing done without the cat always walking over your stuff! Project one of these fun cat videos from YouTube and watch your cat play with glee! On second thought, kids might enjoy these too! 😉

Catch the Fish

Bubbles

Sea Life

Mouse

6.     Board Games

Digital board games are all over the place! Now you can project them directly onto your table for the perfect family game night. Here are some of the places you can get digital board games.

• Board Game Arena: Free and Paid games that friends can join from anywhere. Games include new and classic board games including Carcassonne, Bang, and Splendor.
• Poki: These are great classic games all for free including: Snakes and Ladders, Uno, Checkers, and Battleship. The home page has a lot of basic video games as well!
• Rento: Online version of Monopoly
• Arkadium: Word games, Mahjongg, Bridge, Crosswords, and many more.

7.     Photo Tracing

Do you have a photo that you’d like to turn into a work of art? Project it onto a canvas and trace it. Then using your artistic painting skills paint the photo anyway you’d like! Display or gift your beautiful work of art that a sewing projector made possible!

8.     Shadow Puppets

Sometimes it is fun to just create shadow puppets. Whether you projector is facing the floor or wall enjoy creating shadow puppets with your family. You can even buy a kit with fun shadow puppet shapes.

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Video on Hand Shadow Puppets

Website with Video and Printables on Hand Shadow Puppets

9.     “Hidden” Message or Quotes

Did you ever write “secret” messages as a kid? Entertain the kids by using your projector to write a secret message on a large piece of paper. You can trace a quote or draw an image. Write using a white or clear crayon. Then have the person reveal the message by watercolor painting the paper. No paint will stay where you wrote your message!

10.  Decorate Cake Tops

Bring out the baker in you! Create fun designs and lettering on cakes of any size using your projector. While pointing down onto the table, project a phrase or image you want on the cake. Size it to fit using zoom. Then, pull out a frosting bag with a tip of your choice and trace the image! Your friends and family will be amazed at your skills!

11.  Trace and Cut Vinyl

Don’t own a fancy Cricut or Silhouette machine? No problem! Use your projector to trace and cut words and images on Vinyl. You can use heat-transfer vinyl for sewing and clothing makes or make a fun decal for a wall, car, and anything you desire using other types of vinyl.

12.  Measure Vinyl Projects

If you do have a cutting machine, then get the perfect size for your project every time! Project the image directly from your editing program and zoom until the grid measures correctly. Then, resize the image or words to fit perfectly on the actual project!

13. Kid Entertainment

Have you ever been to a museum with a completely immersive experience? Kids love it! Recreate a scene with the help of your projector and let their imagination run wild!

 Beach

Hot Lava Game

Pop Balloons

Hike Through the Woods

Go Sailing

Large Library

Bubble Mindfulness

14.  Car Town

Another great idea for entertaining the kids so you can get some sewing done! Project a city or town scene with roads on the ground or table. Let the kids drive their Hotwheels cars around. The easiest way to find a good image to use is to search “Seamless Road playmat”.

Printable Map Pieces: Maybe use PDF Stitcher to stitch together

Deposit Photos: Has many images, but you need to signup with email.

15. Screen for Game System

Enjoy playing the Ninetendo, Play Station, or Xbox using a projector for the screen! This is great for multiplayer games or big groups. You will need to move your projector to point at a wall or screen. Mario Kart on the big screen makes it easy to race and see everything going on. For large groups, play something like Just Dance to get everyone to join it! Even though you may only have 4 remotes, everyone can participate. It is quite the dance party! One year I had about 30 people all dancing Michael Jackson’s Thriller. It seemed like a coordinated dance performance, but we were just playing the game!

Final Thoughts

Now you have several ways to use your projector besides sewing! A world of possibilities are open to you! Enjoy all the fun things you can do with this sewing tool!