Question about snowballed disappearing four-patch

[Tressa]

According to the directions in Block Magazine the finished block should measure 8”. Is that 8” before sewing the blocks together or after? Because mine seem to be about 8 1/2” before being sewn together.

[MSN]

Usually, the finished size is what you see once the quilt is sewn together. An 8" finished block + 1/4" seam allowance on all sides = 8-1/2". Sounds like yours are the perfect size!

[oldmanquilts]

This has always bugged me. I've only been at this quilting thing going on four years, and from day one I noticed the confusion over nomenclature. Other industries where cutting and joining are the process towards a finished product have adopted standards of measurement, but not the quilting world. I can think of at least two likely reasons. Fabric is more forgiving and doesn't require the precision to fit like the woodworking and machine shop practices require. Secondly, most involved in the quilting world most likely did not spend time in an environment where precision was required, and formal education was probably not in the math, drafting, mechanical drawing field.

So, when is a "finished" block a finished block? When should a block be called "finished?" It's time to standardize and eliminate the confusion.

[Hulamoon]

This has always bugged me. I've only been at this quilting thing going on four years, and from day one I noticed the confusion over nomenclature. Other industries where cutting and joining are the process towards a finished product have adopted standards of measurement, but not the quilting world. I can think of at least two likely reasons. Fabric is more forgiving and doesn't require the precision to fit like the woodworking and machine shop practices require. Secondly, most involved in the quilting world most likely did not spend time in an environment where precision was required, and formal education was probably not in the math, drafting, mechanical drawing field.

So, when is a "finished" block a finished block? When should a block be called "finished?" It's time to standardize and eliminate the confusion.

I'm going to disagree with you. Women (or men) have been sewing and putting together textiles for hundreds of years. There were standards there since. I could find dozens of articles that say the exact same thing.

finished-vs-unfinished-block.jpg

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[oldmanquilts]

I'm going to disagree with you. Women (or men) have been sewing and putting together textiles for hundreds of years. There were standards there since. I could find dozens of articles that say the exact same thing.

finished-vs-unfinished-block.jpg

.

Not really a standard, but the result of subtracting the seam allowance once joined to another piece. It does illustrate quite well the problem as I see it with regards to standards. By some folks definitions I have seen the block on the left called "finished," because that's the size when finished being sewn into a block, which has yet to be joined to another. So, when does "finished" apply? After it's sewn into a quilt and measured?

I have templates which says "finished size = X." The reference they make to size is the block when assembled from the parts cut with the templates- before joining into a quilt- not the actual size when a part of the quilt.

This is not a rare example of the problem. Recently the challenge quilt for our guild's quilt show instructions called for use of your 2 inch squares or strips- not specified whether finished or not. What is really required is 1 1/2" finished when sewn into a quilt. Why not just say that- (1.5" finished)? Yeah I know we can assume it's 1 1/2 finished because it starts with a 2" piece. But because of the written instructions some are going to have a quilt with 2" finished squares.

Another example is in publishing of the pattern pieces. Some include seam allowances- some don't. This is the lack of a standard.

Ask three people the same question about sizing and you will get three different answers, because of how each interprets the info. That's not a standard. There's been very little effort put into making sure we all describe stuff the same way. Pattern writers at least ought to get it the same.

In more technical industries there is a standard as to how drawings or blueprints are done, and what the various aspects of the drawing or the part, so we all see the same thing when referencing the drawing for making the part.

[grammaterry]

And , it is my experience that men and women do think differently especially when giving directions. I agree with both of you and I do think that following patterns is a difficult experience as the way people go about getting to the same answer seems to differ widely. Case in point is Jenny's tutorials trying to make the process simplified.

[Hulamoon]

Okay OMQ, I get your point. LOL I had to think of my dad when you said

In more technical industries there is a standard as to how drawings or blueprints are done, and what the various aspects of the drawing or the part, so we all see the same thing when referencing the drawing for making the part.

He actually did that very thing when he worked for Lockheed during the first space shuttles. He had brought some drawing home that looked like an assembly, with all the expanded views. What's interesting is that his wife worked on the assembly line. That sounds like it came from a spy novel lol

[Sunflr]

I get confused by this a lot and I have to stop and think about it...……...Sunflr