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because you are working with a square not a straight line.......not arithmatic it is geometry...pardon my spelling
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I get the math, but my reality is that no matter how I measure it...after I "sew" it....3 1/2 can be more or less...depending on my sewing skills for the day! LOL
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I LOVE this thread! I get all wound up in trying to understand stuff like this and have to draw diagrams too. The REALLY funny part is that I am a statistician and I have been TEACHING statistical analysis at various universities for 40 years! But it's a different kind of math. You would not believe the scrapes I've gotten myself into with "quilting math" -- especially when someone else asks me questions because they assume that I must be an expert!
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It takes 1" off the area, not the linear measurements. Right?
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No. Wrong. It takes more than that off the area. Strange thing, math.
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hehe. I love reading all these comments. quilting math to me is a "new math" which I can do but give me a math book and I am almost always lost. I can do math but if you ask me how I got there I probably can't tell you. My teachers all hated me in school because I could get the answer just by looking at a problem for a min, but i would never write out how I would get there because it was all done in my head. when I would write it out i would almost always get it wrong but when i didn't i would get it right. go figure.
my hubby loves math and computers but he wont go anywhere near a sewing machine. I think that he would be fab at it but he wont try. maybe when he is in his 50's. who knows. |
One day - maybe - a light will come one - and you'll say - I GET IT!!!
I've taken math classes - I 'learned' whatever well enough to pass the test at the time - and five years later - THEN I finally UNDERSTOOD it!!! |
Originally Posted by callie8799
(Post 5236492)
I have been reading an article about organizing your stash and came across a line that said, basicallly- a finished square is 1/2 inch smaller than the original cut square. So if I have a 4 inch square, taken out of my red box, after sewing it to other squares, it should measure 3 1/2 inches - that is using 1/4 inch seam allowance. The accompanying illustration has the original square attached on all 4 sides.
****Why is the finished square only 3.5 inches and not 3 inches if you are sewing all 4 sides using a 1/4 inch seam allowance? After all, you are taking 1/4 inch off all 4 sides and 1/4+1/4+1/4+1/4=1*** I know math is not my strong suit, but am I that weak in it? :) thank you so much! the things you think about when you have insomnia :p Debbie 1/4" on the top side plus 1/4' on the bottom equals 1/2" You're over-thinking. (we've all done it at one time or another!) |
Originally Posted by sahm4605
(Post 5239770)
hehe. I love reading all these comments. quilting math to me is a "new math" which I can do but give me a math book and I am almost always lost. I can do math but if you ask me how I got there I probably can't tell you. My teachers all hated me in school because I could get the answer just by looking at a problem for a min, but i would never write out how I would get there because it was all done in my head. when I would write it out i would almost always get it wrong but when i didn't i would get it right. go figure.
my hubby loves math and computers but he wont go anywhere near a sewing machine. I think that he would be fab at it but he wont try. maybe when he is in his 50's. who knows. |
Originally Posted by ghostrider
(Post 5239392)
Come at it from the other way. Your 4" cut square is 4" wide by 4" high...or 8" total if you combine them. If you then subtract the 1" of seam allowances, you get 7". Divide that in half (because it's a square and length and width are the same) and you get a 3½" square. Does that help you see it?
If you consider both directions (length and width) for one element (the seam allowances), you have to do it for the other as well (the square sides). I love math--------but I'm going to pretend I didn't see this response. LOL |
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