Marking Question

[cbrokofsky]

I’m fairly new to quilting and recently bought a Janome 6600. I was looking at the hook cover plate (bobbin cover ) and became confused with all the lines. Can anyone help me out? I understand the top markings are 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, and 5/8. And the very bottom markings look to be mirror images just flipped up side down from the top. What do the two small marks in the middle and the line marked 10 stand for. I’ve artached an image for clarification.

[MSN]

Re: Marking Question

I believe those markings are for the metric system. The 10 would be 10 mm.

[bubba]

Re: Marking Question

That is correct, the bottom is in metric measurements.

[oldmanquilts]

Re: Marking Question

Yep- the marking above and below the center block are "inch" SA guide marks. The marks in the box are metric, which would be 5, 10(as denoted), and 15mm SA guides.

I have patterns which are speced in "metrics." Funny thing about the metric system- as advanced as we think America is, we still use the inch system for measuring. I can't believe we still use it as the metric system is so much simpler. Most are going to disagree because the inch system is familiar, but we're not confused with the stitch length and width measurements being called out in metrics. I've been an advocate of change to the metric system for over 50 years. I likely won't see it. This country is so backwards in so many ways.

[GuitarGramma]

Re: Marking Question

I heard an interesting comment from a seamstress in Australia, where we lived for a couple of years in the 1990s. I'd purchased a really nice pair of slacks and then went and lost weight with the super-healthy Aussie foods (not complaining!). So I took the slacks to a seamstress to have them taken in.

"Oh, you're American!" she said. "You understand fractions. I have to teach all my girls about fractions because we still sew with inches. They don't teach fractions in school anymore, you know."

So I've lived with fractions and I've lived with metrics and I'm comfortable with either. And when a country adopts one or the other, something gets lost. In Australia, fractions got lost. Here in the States, I remember a discussion—when it looked like the US would, in fact, switch to the metric system—that generations of cookbooks and family recipes would be rendered useless. Living in Oz, I eventually figured out that a "tablespoon" in Australia is 20ml, and a "tablespoon" in the US is 15ml.

One final observation. In Australia, when I'd ask someone my age how tall they were, the answer would be "Five Foot Eight." When I'd ask a teenager, they'd say "178."

It's a big beautiful world!