I Searched 1800's Patents to Understand This Ruler

UPDATE: Apparently, the reason for the little holes in the slidy bit are where I should be putting my pin when I use it as a compass. Then use the hole on the end of ruler for my marker. The offset of the pin hole matches the offset hole on the end ruler and so the measurements stay correct. Please comment below if you know more.

Back in the 60s we actually had sewing and cooking classes in 7th grade. We were taught how to use these for a multitude of projects. They really should bring back life skills.

I was a professional seamstress for many years. How nice to see someone discovering my old friend.

It's not only a sewing guage, it's also a knitting guage. The one inch markings are for counting your stitches per inch across a minimum of a 4" piece of knitting. You use it by knitting about a 6" swatch. Then you set the slide to the area you want to measure and leave it set there while you are knitting say a sweater. Every so often, you use the notches to count the stitches between the notches. If a pattern calls for your gauge to be 8 stiches per inch, you should count that many. If you count across several rows and the count goes from 8 to 7 to 8 to 6, it means your yarn tension is off and you need to correct it. You measure the rows the same, but the count is usually different. It works the same for crochet. It's used in a lot of needlecrafts.

I learned to sew in the 70s and this is what I was taught: The notches are for spacing snaps, buttons and button holes evenly. The small hole in the plastic allows you to put your needle through and set the perfect spot for sewing on the button based on the sewing line of the button hole. Also, yes, to the compass but make certain the slider is a tight one. I prefer an old metal slider one.

I first bought that kind of ruler in 1968. It was sold as a sewing necessity and my mom said GET ONE. I still use it today.

Ive used this ruler for many decades. Back in the days of home-ec, we were taught to make binding and bias tape by pinning the ruler to the ironing board and running the fabric under the ruler between the pins (one in the end hole, another either in the slider hole or across the ruler), with the iron. You can iron right on top of the ruler. You can also turn up hems and iron those with the ruler in between the two layers.

'I know why,' shouted this proud seamstress! a) the pins can be fixed into a cork or dense styrofoam manikin, a corked drafting table or an ironing board or ironing cushion. b) the fixed position gives a good range for multiple rows or grids, such as with hems, decorative cuffs or smocking, or spacing buttonholes! c) Also helpful for fixing a centre position for when you want to work from the centre outwards. d) My favourite - one pin allows for swivelling if you want to mark a crescent or circle! Hugs.

When my grandmother taught me to hem my garments, she used this wonderful little tool two ways... The first was on the side of a soft stepping stool (poof, ottoman) that had a hard top. The person stood on the top, the gauge was pinned through the little holes at the right level and the model simply turned while the seamstress marked - she didn't have to hold the ruler. The second was to pin it to the ironing board at the right length and slide the fabric under the ruler while ironing. Hers was all metal which was good since one with the plastic gauge would have melted. She used the "compass function" to make curves for full circle skirts and round collars as well.

Have used this ruler all my life to sew with. Can’t sew without it.

I was always taught that the hole in the blue part is for making scallops along with the larger hole in the metal at the end. Make a line. Stick a pin in the blue hole. Put a pencil in the metal hole and make the scallop the size you want and run the ruler around to make the scallops. I did this a lot for my kids clothes 50 years ago.

Came for the ruler, stayed for the hat. Thanks for the info!

Remember that this is a small portable and inexpensive tool you'd take with to someone's house when fixing pleats on a dress or adjusting the size of clothing, The reason for the notches is to keep pins in alignment. The way you'd keep the sliding T in place is a short tapered dowel. The holes can be used to drape a thread around a contour to measure off of on people or to "mount" the ruler onto a dummy or on a patternboard but they also keep the plastic T from shrinking out of form as it ages - they become loose because over time they continue to dry out and shrink. <- think about measuring the contours on a fitted skirt but being able to have the person it is to fit be able to flex and posture and breathe. So you could lay one of these on the pattern board and run it on a thread between two pairs of pins to work a large area for markings. These little things are excellent for laying out new button positions and you can also fish out lost threads with the notches: I've seen the little pinnace tip used to separate threads between layers when hand-stitching and the notches will also gently keep pins "vertical" when you're doing manual gathers and need one extra spare finger in that different location. Holding the sliding T in place you can rub-crease pattern paper like a woodworker uses a scribe gauge.

This is a lovely bit of information, but the comments are absolutely STELLAR! Thank you one and all.

I used one of these when I was in the Army for aligning medals, ribbons, etc.

Old dress maniquins were padded and accepted pins.  Dress makers used the rigid pinning ruler, marked in calibrated inches and a flexible tape measure to make a bodice sloper with around 20 measurments for a "Perfect Fit" for their patrons. That sloper was reusable to make many garments and could be adjusted if need be for maturation, or weight loss or gain.

The 5/8th inch seam allowance began when patterns were first sold. The manufacturers got together and decided on this width of allowance in the US so their customers wouldn't become confused, as they would with each company using a different seam allowance. Who knows, perhaps they took into consideration that lightweight linen or cotton would be sewn with French seams which would be ideal with 5.8th inch allowance. Remembering that there were no overlockers and many people had to hand sew the seams - much quicker with a French seam. While woollen fabrics would need a normal flat seam with the raw edges hand sewn to stop fraying - as I once did because we didn't have zig zag or overlock - just hand stitch oversew.

Hello Cornelius. Your updated note is correct and I’ll add one bit of clarification. Putting the pen in the hole in the blue bit that is on the same side as the pencil hole gives you the exact measurement you’ve set. Putting the pin in the hole at the side opposite of the pencil hole adds an extra width for seaming. My cheap version only gives an extra 1/8” which is scarcely enough for a seam, but I believe my old sewing gauge provided an extra 1/4” when using the opposing pin hole. Also, this tool is handy for those curves when marking fabric that is on my dress form. I push the pin all the way into my dress form until the ball of the pin is flush with the gauge. That gives me a secure connection for rotating the gauge and getting a dependable marking. Thank you for your great videos! 🌷

When I found a couple of older seam gauges, with the metal slider, I snapped them up immediately. I use one at the ironing board for pressing curved edges evenly. When you set the slider to the desired fold depth, you can fold up the edge of the fabric to meet the slider, and then press right on top of the seam gauge.

This is timely! Inherited mine from my mom who was a fantastic at sewing. As I used the straight edge this morning, I wondered about all the extras that she likely knew about this tool that I did not. Being more of a crafter than sewer, I’ve used it to gauge knitting or crochet as others mentioned. Used the slider to consistently mark something but your video and these comments are a goldmine of knowledge. Setting buttons and drawing curves?! Taking a closer look, I noticed the body of the ruler is a scant 5/8” so using a pencil with the straightedge would be exactly 5/8; hence that little indentation. As you pointed out the end measures 5/8” exactly. Same is true of the straight edge and inner opening which is a scant 1/4” and the notched side is exactly 1/4”. A great discovery for me as I begin hand piecing patchwork since quilters use 1/4” seams.