Wednesday, May 7, 2008

GREAT TAPE MEASURE!

Just read about this. It may be an old tool, and I just never saw it, but now that I've seen it, I have to have it.

It's a flexible tape measure, inches on one side, centimeters on the other, 1/4" wide, and encased in plastic, so if you mark against it, it won't stain. There are different lengths, depending on what you want to do, and the article I read suggested using one that wasn't much longer than the curve you were measuring/creating, but I'll probably go with one that's about 36", which seems all-purpose to me.

http://www.gillarnold.co.uk/Ruler.jpg


The lovely thing about these is that you can drape them around a curve, gently lift them off, lay them flat on your fabric or garment, mark the line, and cut. Drape one over your shoulders with one end at the center back of your neck, play with the curve until you have the neckline you want, mark that curve, cut and hem.

If you have the ruler flat, with one edge on the actual line, them marking the other edge will automatically give you your seam allowance.

I'm buying one as soon as I can, preferably online, but I'll make the trip to the fabric store if I have to.

There is one caveat: The core is lead, which is what makes them flexible. There shouldn't be any way the lead could be accessible, or affect anyone, but that seems like valuable information.

Giving a talk at the Aloha Garden Club tomorrow, accompanied by brunch and the opportunity to display my work for sale.

Saturday is the St John's Bizarre. (You read that right: It's Bizarre, not Bazaar. "Keep Portland weird!" as we say around here. Just doing my part, lol.)

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