Measure twice... pick one and stick with it.

[Mitchell Andrus]

I sent a picture frame to a client. She called and said it was the wrong size. NO WAY!!! ... been doing this for 11 years.

She sent it back. I measured it and it's the exact size that she asked for. She says it's off, by about an inch and I'm figuring she's nuts or she can't see so good, so I ask the husband to measure the artwork and call me back. He called and told me some completely different measurements than the ones she came up with. Now, they're arguing in the background.

Turns out she used a fabric tape from her sewing basket - about 35 years old. He used a steel tape measure. They laid them side-by-side and sure enough, the bigger the measurement, the greater the error.

Scotty , I'm ready. Beam me up.

[Chuck Lenz]

I can't imagine that a inch wasn't a inch 35 years ago, but I can imagine her doing the start at an inch and forgeting to add an inch like so many of us have done before. Gotta luv some of those customers. It's one of the reasons I don't do custom work for anyone anymore.

[Jim Becker]

Yea, well, when I had some clothing made in Shanghai this summer, I noticed that the "inches" in use were quite noticeably different in size from the inches I use in my shop...but that illustrates an important point: as long as you use the same measuring device to size something and then to make the complimentary item, you're just fine. It's when you switch something out that things get all screwed up!

[Gary Keedwell]

JIm, they should have made a story stick for you:p
Gary

[Greg Muller]

The LOML and I had the same exact problem not long ago. She used a cloth tape that her grandmother gave her- it was probably 50 years old. An inch is still the same length as back then, but the cloth tape isn't. :confused:

It stretched out after about a million times being pulled around fattening bellies and hips. It was off by about 1 1/2 inches at the 36" mark.

No wonder grampa wore his pants so high...:eek:

[Chuck Lenz]

The LOML and I had the same exact problem not long ago. She used a cloth tape that her grandmother gave her- it was probably 50 years old. An inch is still the same length as back then, but the cloth tape isn't. :confused:

It stretched out after about a million times being pulled around fattening bellies and hips. It was off by about 1 1/2 inches at the 36" mark.

No wonder grampa wore his pants so high...:eek:
Good point Greg, I never thought about a fabric tape stretching over many years of use. Makes alot of sense.

[Scott Hubl]

Measurements can be "OFF" by quite a bit from one steel tape measure to the next. And cloth sewing ones came stretch or shrink over the years.
My father and I both worked as Union Commercial flooring installers.
One of the first things he taught me during my appreticeship long ago was to only use ONE tape measure on the job for layouts.

You can own a Stanley the other guys can own another brand and they will be off from each other. It may not be by alot in a short distance but in a commercial building measuring from one end to the other to lay out borders or and patterns can mean alot and throw everything off.
I use 1 tape for a project only for this reason, even though I have a dozen or so laying around.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Greg, exactly correct... in my case it was vinyl coated and it shrank about 2% over it's length. On a 37" span, that's a lot.