While I seem to have finally gotten the trick of measuring correctly so patterns are fitting better, I have a recurring problem with measurements changing so that I have to periodically go in and correct them. What causes the measurements to change in the program? It's annoying to load a pattern and find that the bodice looks like some contorted mess, only to find that the shoulder dimensions have mysteriously changed in the chart of measurements for that doll.

I guess what I'm asking... Is there a way to cast the measurements "in stone" so they won't change unless I actually open the chart and change them? I now print them out when I've got them tweaked, so that if it happens again, I'll be able to put the values back in without getting the tape measure out again.

Thanks for your help. The program is great... even with glitches, it's easier than my old paper-towel method of making patterns!

Karen in Maine

quote:

While I seem to have finally gotten the trick of measuring correctly so patterns are fitting better, I have a recurring problem with measurements changing so that I have to periodically go in and correct them. What causes the measurements to change in the program? It's annoying to load a pattern and find that the bodice looks like some contorted mess, only to find that the shoulder dimensions have mysteriously changed in the chart of measurements for that doll.

I guess what I'm asking... Is there a way to cast the measurements "in stone" so they won't change unless I actually open the chart and change them? I now print them out when I've got them tweaked, so that if it happens again, I'll be able to put the values back in without getting the tape measure out again.

Your account shows that you own both Doll Shop Deluxe and Essential Patterns for Girls. These are both included in the same Dress Shop Family program. I don't know if you are sewing for both children and dolls, but if you are, as you switch between them, the default measurement set switches, too. Dress Shop / Doll Shop keeps track of whatever chart you last used and that is what comes up next time you run. So, if you sew an outfit for a child, then run Doll Shop Deluxe later, the child's measurements will be in effect until you load or select a doll's measurements.

I don't know of any other reason that measurement charts would change. What you ran last is what comes up first when you run again and any measurement chart can be saved and reloaded whenever you like. If you enter a new chart, you do need to save it, using the "Save As..." button at the top of the complete measurement chart entry form. Then, when you run Doll Shop later, use Size - Load Measurements to reload that chart. Or, you can use the "Load..." button in the complete chart entry dialog. Either should work...

I'm definitely bringing up the same set of measurements. I don't sew for both children and dolls, but I do switch between the child pattern set and the adults pattern sets when I'm sewing for my dolls. However, if I'm working for the same doll, I'm not bringing up a new measurement set each time I switch. When the new pattern I bring up is terribly skewed, I check the measurements in the chart, and they have changed.... several values can even be set to "0" that had definitely had values before, because the previous pattern was fine. Where the sleeve used to be shaped so a hand could pass through it, it may now tape to nothing, as the wrist circumference is now set to "0" inches. Perhaps it is just a glitch that won't repeat itself too often. If it's not something that can be avoided by some trick I'm not aware of, I'll simply just print out the measurement charts so that if it happens again I'll have the values at hand to plug back in when the pattern gets skewed. I haven't tried, but perhaps exiting and restarting the program would make the values go back to what they were. It might be something that only occurs when switching between Essentials for Girls and Doll Shop. I'll try that next time before I manually change the values back to what they should be.

In general, I'm more than pleased with the program. It has saved me lots of time and paper towels when I'm drafting patterns. If I need to go through the extra step of saving hard copies of the measurement charts, it's just a tiny inconvenience.

Karen in Maine