UserManual:Tape measurements Tutorial

Multisizes
Multisizes in tape are an amazing feature of the Valentina Pattern Making software. A Multisize (or 'Standard') measurement file can help you grade patterns easily. Valentina multisize files are stored with a .vst extension, for Valentina Standard Table. Multisize files are typically stored under the valentina / measurements / standard data folder: valentina |__measurements |__standard |__individual |__patterns |__templates

Sizes are grouped into tables where increments between sizes are (more or less) constant. USA Standard Measurements (from ASTM) are a good place to start looking for standard sizes, but they are pricey. Hint: There are some very kind people who have shared their standard sizes on the internet. You may have even created your own set. Many designers tweaking the measurements to reflect a certain body type or shape.

I organized my multisize measurements in a spreadsheet before entering them into Valentina's Tape app. The PDF of my spreadsheet can be downloaded here: [[Media:MultiSize_with_Increments_-_14W_to_32W.pdf|MultiSize_with_Increments_-_14W_to_32W.pdf]]



Click on the spreadsheet image and select the largest image size. Note the column and row labels. The top row states the base size is 14W. The remaining sizes are calulated from this size. The columns are: Code, Measurement Area, Base Value, and Increment Down the left-hand side, the table is split into groups: Girth (for circumference), Vertical, and Width/Length. editor's note: the Width/Length category could be simplified to Width to avoid confusion, because a length could be vertical or horizontal.

Multisize measurements can be graded based on Height or Girth measurements, so it is necessary to enter the increment values into the correct column. Increments for measurements related to the Width or Girth of the person (like Bust circumference or Bustpoint to Bustpoint) are entered into the Sizes column. Increments for measurements related to the Height of the person are entered into the Vertical column.

Getting Started
Well, now that we have our tools together, we need to open Tape. Double click on the icon on your desktop, or open Valentina then click on Measurements in the top menu bar, then click Open Tape from the picklist. Tape opens to a blank screen and the only options are New and Open: Above these 2 options is the menu - File; Measurements; Window; and Help. Several options are greyed out until you create or open a measurement file. We are now going to click on 'New' to create our Multisize set and the following requirements screen pops up: I have already selected 'Standard' for Multisize, my units are centimeters (currently Tape only caters for centimeters or Millimeters for Multisize tables), Bust size is 50 (which corresponds with the Bust Circumference of 100.30cm divided by 2) and Base height of 158 (which corresponds with the bottom end of the standard height of women which seems to be from 5'3" to 5'6"). Once you have entered these values, click on 'OK' and we are set to go. I always save my table at this point so that I can just click on 'Save' every so often as I work. So... Click on 'File', 'Save as' and the following screen will appear: As you can see, I have named the file according to which size table I am using so that I don't get confused between other tables that I may have and the 'File Type' has defaulted to .vst. The folder that I am saving this table in has defaulted to Valentina/tables/standard which is the program default which may be changed under 'Preferences' which we will cover elsewhere. The image above shows the screen after setting up Tape... I like having the measurement diagram on so that I can see that I'm entering the measurements into the right codes. As we go, you will see that a diagram appears where the ? is that shows which portion of the body has been measured with this code. At the bottom left, you can see the Height, Size and Pattern Unit choice we made when we started this table. I nice way to check your measurements over a range, is to change the Height and Size and check on your complete table (before you narrowed it down to only Base Size and Increment) if the values entered are remaining true over the whole table.

Adding Known Measurement Codes
It is easier and faster to know which 'Known Codes' you need, hence my list. Now we will select them and place them in our table and later add values to them. A 'Known Code' is one that is known by Tape. In other words, it has been created in the database and has an image attached to it. To start, click on 'Add Known' and a popup window opens with a list of codes - see below: As you can see, the codes are compartmentalised into sections that have an arrow before the heading. If you click this arrow, the list of codes close. In the image below, I have closed all the compartments to get a shorter list to work with: Each compartment title is listed alphabetically from A to Q and each item in each compartment starts with the compartments reference. So everything under A will have a code starting with A. Refering to my list, I see that the first few codes start with G so I open the G compartment and select the items from it that I have on my list:

Of special interest here is that the block next to the title gets a small black square in it which indicated that some of the codes have been selected from this section. One could also select all codes from this section by clicking the box next to the title which will put a tick (correct mark) in it and all items in that section will also be ticked. Another item of special interest is if one selects one of the items in the section, a diagram appears on the right which shows all the sections that can be measured which are numbered according to the items on the left with the code and title of the item selected below the diagram and below that, a short description of how the measurement is achieved. As you can see, I have selected all the items that I need, at this point, from this section. I will close this section and open the next section, which is L, and select the codes I need from that part:

As you can see, the black mark in G remains and now L also has a black mark. I am going to go through my list to select all the other codes, opening and closing sections. I may open a section more than once before I am done. As you can see below, a number of the sections now have black squares inside their boxes and I click 'OK' to accept these selections:

I now have a list of most of the items on my screen and I am almost ready to start entering values:

Personally, I'm not happy with reading only half of the descriptions in columns 2 & 3, so by positioning the cursor between columns 2 & 3, the cursor changes and I can drag the column wider and I do the same between columns 3 & 4. Now I can read the description in them and the heights column has become narrower. You can resize any of the columns like this.

Adding Custom Measurement Codes
While I was setting up my working document, there was one item that I couldn't find a code for - Vertical trunk (Neck side, around crotch, to neck side) - I marked it in red at the code area. We will add this one now. Custom codes all get a prefix @. We can only use the alpha-numeric for them and the under-score (_), no spaces. We can give it a name and a description, but since it isn't known by the system, it won't have a diagram attached to it, so the description should be quite detailed. To add the custom code, we click on 'Add Custom' and an item is added to our list with the name '@M_1' which is highlighted in the list: We can now change the name to something that we will identify with while drafting our pattern, add the full name and full description. Here is what I have entered because I know that, in a years time, I won't remember what this measurement was about:

Adding, Moving and Deleting Lines
And here we are at the part that creates the magic... Unfortunately, our codes have now disappeared and our list is in the order of Tape's list rather than that of our worksheet but all is not lost as we can move rows up or down. We can also add more codes or delete codes: At the top, the 'Add Known' and 'Add Custom' are always available and will be every time you open this file in Tape, so you can add more items to it at any time you wish. The 4 tiny icons in the centre of the screen to the left are what we use to move the lines. The 1st one will take the selected line to the top, the 2nd one will move the line up a line, the 3rd one will move it down a line and the 4th one will take it to the last line. The single icon in the centre right will delete the line. You may now re-arrange your lines into the order of the list, if you wish. I like doing this because it helps me not to make mistakes when entering base values and increments.

Adding Base Values and Increments
Starting at the top of the list, we can start entering our values. I suggest that you double check that all the descriptions are the same and the diagram corresponds to list item before entering values. I can't stress this enough because the success of your pattern drafting depends on it and this is why we have created a list, added all the lines and sorted them into order... To minimize making errors. At this point, I advise that all items in the 'Vertical' section of our list have the increments entered into the Height column. The rest can be entered into the 'Size' column. As you can see, I have checked that I have the correct line and it corresponds to the diagram and description. I've entered the base value into the box provided and Tape has added it to the line in the column 'Base Value'. I've entered the increment value into the 'In sizes' box and it has been added to the line in the column 'In Sizes'. To easily move from the Base Value box to the In Sizes box, you may use the TAB key or the mouse. Continue in this fashion until you have all the values entered, remembering to enter the increment of the Vertical section into the 'In Height' box so that they can go into the 'In Height' column for those lines. Also, remember to save your work often. I don't like doing everything twice, so I do. Here is an image of a part of my completed table. Once you have entered all your base values and increments, you may save your file one last time and close Tape. It will be available to you when you need it to create a pattern in Valentina.

Groups of Measurements

 * About Tape
 * Starting a New Set of Measurements
 * Standard (Multisize) Measurements
 * Individual Measurements