Monday, 3 November 2008

Re metric v imperial measurements in quilting etc.

Last week, I asked a question on a couple of internet quilting groups to try and get a cross section of quilters' viewpoints about the metric/imperial measurement debate, because the UK edition of a forthcoming technique book has been edited to put the metric measurements first.

The replies members sent were very useful and I forwarded a selection to the editors, so it may change the way measurements appear in future quilting titles they edit, so that imperial appears first - as this is the way most quilters prefer. Of course, most of the measuring equipment we use is imperial. So the responses I've had from both online groups will have a result, to make future books more user friendly for quilters! Thank you to everyone who replied.

Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to change the order back to imperial (metric) in this book, so it will have to stay as it is!

The title in the USA is "200 Quilting Tips, Techniques & Trade Secrets: An Indispensable Reference of Technical Know-How and Troubleshooting Tips" (St. Martin's Griffin publishers) and in the UK it is "Compendium of Quiltmaking Techniques" (Search Press Ltd). Please note - it is the same book!!!!

1 comment:

Quayquilter said...

I prefer inches for quilting as so much of our literature is in imperial. It's not because I'm a luddite - when I did machine knitting I happily used body and pattern measurements n metric, after all these measures are purely arbitrary.
Mary aka Quayquilter