Ok I know my inches and yards. But how do I find 7/8 of a yard on my ruler? The pillow case I want to make says I need 7/8 to make one pillow case. Oops for my topic at the top I put 7/8" I didn't mean to put the ".

That's 31.5 inches.

I just googled it and the answer was 31.5 inches . Beat me to it

Thank alot ladies.

Isn't that a riduclous measurement considering our measuring instruments??? LOL

I'm thinking that eighths might have started because an eighth is half of a half of a half.

1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2 = 1/8

The metric system does have its advantages.

By the time you prewash and square up a yard of fabric, it only measures 31.5 inches anyway!

LMBO ghostrider...it sure seems that way sometimes :D:D:D

You can also multiply the 7/8 yard times 36 inches in a yard. That will give you how many inches it is, if you have future ones to do math on.

hi quilterj
to figure out 7/8 yards, you divide 8 into 36 and then multiply the answer by 7.
36 divided by 8 is 4.5
then 4.5 times 7 equals 31.5
this applies to all fractions.
hope this helps.

And when we kids, we thought we wouldn't need math when we grew up lolol

I have the quilter calculater and it is great don't have to think. lol
jazs2

I think they do this on purpose :
1) to see if we paid attention in school
2) to see how bad we really want to do the quilt
3) someone has a sick sense of humor

:shock: :wink:

LOL

I think it's the 3rd option!!!

jaz2 - Do you like the quilting calculator? How much do you really use it? I've thought of buying it but the $30 price tag puts me off a bit and I haven't really seen anyone use it enough to make it worth buying. I'm very interested in hearing about your experience with it.

I love math almost as much as quilting. :oops:

8/8 yards is 1 yard so 7/8 yards will be 1 yard minus 1/8 yards.
Fun FYI: You ever wonder why things like wire, the higher the gauge the smaller the size? Think of a round hole. How many pieces of wire will fit in that hole? It will take less of the thick wire to fill the hole and more of the thin wire to fill the hole.

LOL BellaBoo...it sure leaves me scratching my head at times :D:D:D

All of a sudden I am thinking of Boss Hogg and Rosco P. Coltrane. 50% of 50%.

;)

I have one of these because somedays math is just to hard!

http://www.measurebytheyard.com/

I use it to measure my quilts for backing and batting too.
And because it is pink, DH has left it alone - so far - my other tools end up out in his shop somehow.

I put the yard measure on my New Year's list, what I don't get from my Christmas list I buy it myself for New Years. :D I like to start the New Year happy.

I'll scratch my head and yours if it would help me understand math better! :lol:

Thanks for the link 2 Doods!

Another math lover here.

When I was homeschooling my sons (all graduated and grown up now), they saw me using math all the time for drafting patterns, so they never asked me "Will we really use this later on?"

7/8 ths comes naturally from working at a fabric shop for years.
also for those days you can not think, I have a yardstick that is marked 1/8 -1/4-1/3-1/2 etc.
it was given out years ago by Piece Goods fabric shop and also sold by them,
That is one yard stick my hubby knows he can not touch. :thumbdown: :hunf:

I usually buy 1 1/2 yards to make two pillow cases and 1/2 yard of a contrasting fabric. I cut my main fabric in half and the 1/2 yard into 9 inches each. I also use a 3rd color 2 1/2 inch strip full length of fabric from scraps for trim. Makes two nice pillow cases.

Do pillowcases have to be so exact? Even my purchased pillowcases are slightly different sizes. Shrinkage and all.
But I have a wonderful ruler that the BOM teacher suggested we buy. It has a yellow thing running the length of the ruler that you snap on and off and sets to exact measurements. Somehow this teacher likes the cut things in 1/8ths or 7/8ths. I haven't figured out why but I like her quilts so I bought the ruler and it really works and is so accurate. Can't waiting until February when the new BOM starts.

Anne

What os BOM?

Block of the Month

I love it and use it all the time. I didn't play the full price. I order from JoAnn's with my 40% coupon. I was never good in math so that is my helper. lol
jazs2

To find 7/8 on a ruler, count seven 1/8 marks from one inch to the next. Or fourteen 1/16 marks from inch to inch.

One thing I made sure of was my kids could read a ruler, down to the 1/64 inch, and know the gauge numbers sizes. It's something not taught in most schools anymore. I started teaching my grandbaby how to read a ruler when she started counting. It's a skill they will not forget.

me too. Figuring those parts out for a quilt is a great brain-teaser.

I love math too. And boy howdy is it handy around here.

Yeah! Think how much more fun we would have had with math if they had taught us some practical "make something using it" lessons, instead of those AWFUL, pointless story problems <g>.
SALUTE to all of you who figured out how to come up with 7/8 of a yard ... I get all weirded out with tenths of a foot, too ... all I can figure is: someone who is asking for tenths of a foot don 't really know how big a foot is, anyway. <<wave> I LOVE math because it does make good sense, but ONLY to a point <g>

yes, 36 times 7 divided by 8 will work.

36 times 7 divided by 8 IS work!! :lol: I use decimals instead of fractions, having learned the decimal equivalents for eighths back in the dark ages when stock prices were given in eighths of a dollar.

I don't think its work at all..I love math.

oh, my goodness! 1/8 in dollars, too???? I am so fond of saying: Figures don't lie, but liars figure ... darn!
if you get the fractions/decimals small enough, you can jury rig anything! LOL <wave>
I LOVE math ... :roll: I really do! I can feel the desire to start pushing a pencil and dinking around with numbers, but I must control myself and sew something or fold laundry or something!
this is all so cool to watch the math geniuses among us strutting their stuff ... I am in awe, even if I may have to give up one of my favorites maxims of life <wave>