Working in Centimetres

[Helen M.]

Whilst on holiday in Bruges, I bought a kit to make a Spring Sampler. When I got home and opened the box, I discovered the instructions were written in Flemish. A friend translated them for me but unless you were experienced in patchwork and applique, you would be struggling as they are very basic.

Are there any European members who could tell me what measurement of seam allowance is used with centimetres? All
the instructions say is "add seam allowance" which is not very helpful.

Many thanks, Helen (Forsyth)

[Helen M.]

There are others who can probably confirm this better than I, since (a) I am in UK and (b) I think in inches. I suspect that they use 1 centimetre which is very close to 3/8".

But I don't actually know, what I do know is that continual 'mathematical' conversion back and forth will truly mess you up! If I have to I refer to a tape measure to get my conversion.

[Kathryn S.]

one inch = 2.54 centimeters. so, 1/4 inch = 0.6cm plus a hair. I seem to remember seeing in some book that they were using 1/2 centimeter seam allowance? Which is a little less than 1/4 inch.


Kathy

[Renata L.]

I just took a look at my French quilting magazines and they are publishing a 7 millimeter seam allowance where, for those who use inches, it would normally be a 1/4". They also round up to 1.5mm where 1/2" seams are called for. Hope this helps. Renata

[Helen M.]

Thanks for your help. If I'm going to do this little quilt, then I might as well do all the measurements in centimetres!

Thanks again.

[Helen M.]

Thank you to all the ladies who responded to my query.

Your answers were a great help.

[Hannelore N.]

The seam allowance for most metrical patterns is 0.75cm.

Here in England things are 'weird'. Fabric is sold by metric measurements, but patterns (even brand-new ones), and quilt rulers are in inches.

[Hannelore N.]

In Canada, it is the same as England, excepting that sometimes you find the odd pattern in metric.

[Marion D.]

I found out that the US so dominates the quilting industry that a lot of times they use inches instead of centimeters in Europe! So it probably doesn't matter what you use, so long as you a) convert everything correctly and b) don't mix inches and centimeters. (That is why one of the Mars landers crashed! But for you it wouldn't be quite so devastating.)

[Hannelore N.]

For anybody who is interested: "Creativegrids" sells some metric rulers. A couple of them are on special offer right now.

[Hannelore N.]

dear locham, i give you an advice dont do the translation to " because it doesnt work (been there,done that and cry my eyes and hart out)

or do it in cm, or do it in inches but round it to the nearest round cifer, and then you need to do a sampler so you can see how other blocks feet or not.

good luck.
cheers
becky

[Hannelore N.]

dear locham, i give you an advice dont do the translation to " because it doesnt work (been there,done that and cry my eyes and hart out)

or do it in cm, or do it in inches but round it to the nearest round cifer, and then you need to do a sampler so you can see how other blocks feet or not.

good luck.
cheers
becky

Absolutely!

Personally I blame the French! :evil: :wink:

[Hannelore N.]

When I follow a pattern (doesn't happen that often) I normally stick with the given measurements, so will work in either cm or inches. I don't 'translate'. That's rarely accurate enough.

[Jo H.]

I agree with Lorchen that you should follow whatever measurement gives you the accuracy for the pattern. When I digitize, I always measure in mm because it is so much more accurate than inches. I truly am a believer that the U.S. should have switched over like they said they were going to when I was in grade school.

[Hannelore N.]

But they did switch here in the UK. If you build a house today, everything is measured in mm, and engineering works entirely in mm. Quilting just hasn't caught up and is stuck in a time warp somewhere.