Errors in Patterns

I know that no one has an answer for this problem, but I'm still annoyed.

Quilting patterns are published with errors that are quickly detected by anyone who purchases the pattern and attempts to follow it. The answer from the publisher/author is 'oh, yes. we'll fix it in the next print run.' Well, excuse me. I paid good money for something from THIS print run.

And further, I know they say that they've tested the patterns prior to printing. But having seen some of the errors, I just don't believe that.

I understand that errors can occur. But these designers are playing with the big girls when they publish books and patterns. They need to take more responsibility for the product.

This is not aimed at any one book or pattern. In my five years of making store samples and 42 years (EE GADS!) I've seen lots of mistakes that should have never appeared.

joan

Reply to
joan8904 in Bellevue Nebraska
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I agree, there's nothing more annoying. If you find an error, they ought to return your money IMO. (If I find something on the supermarket shelf that's past its sell-by date, they would give it to me for free. If I wanted it :-)

Another thing that annoys me is the number of typos in e-books, and not only in the free ones! Roberta in D

Reply to
Roberta

You are right Joan. They should be right. I don't buy and make up exactly as printed too many patterns. Would you say there are more mistakes and things are worse than they used to be? Maybe this is a great time to challenge ourselves and do more of our own original work. I see some of the patterns bloggers brag about using and they often are just re-makes of old classics. They use pretty moda coordinated fabrics and add borders and call them original. Yep they are striking but really why pay for that? Calculating for yardage and cutting really isn't that hard. I'd rather spend money on fabric than expensive patterns myself. I have magazines and ideas in my head for more than I'll ever finish anyway. Consumers need to write and complain when there are problems. If we all did that they might notice, but maybe not. Taria

Reply to
Taria

Sounds good but have you ever written a pattern or book? It is so easy to miss errors particularly ones involving numbers. Things get transposed, errors happen.

Heck, if some person set themselves up as the typo police on this group they'd likely never get any sleep as we all make errors in our messages.

Yes, some pattern designers are crabby when you point out their errors. They shouldn't be but perhaps they are tired and crosseyed from designing.

I do know that all the book publishers have a corrections section on their websites and we should always check them before starting a pattern.

I've proofed a book and it is HARD. Several of us looked it over in addition to the author and editor and guess what? Yep. Horrifying but no one can wave a wand and change the type in already printed books. If all the books with errors were replaced at no charge publishers would soon be out of money and there wouldn't be books at all. Or, they'd have to charge an outrageous amount to cover the replacement costs "just in case". Who wants that? Not me! I'd rather read carefully before cutting and sewing.

Lucky me has never had a problem like that with patterns I've made, but I haven't made all that many shop samples. Surely not your five years worth. Or maybe I have a pattern mojo angel who steers me to the better written patterns? Who knows.

marcella

Reply to
Marcella Peek

I know A pattern designer/teacher/top-notch quilter who self-publishes her patterns and books so that she can teach the patterns before publishing. None of the publishers she contacted were willing to let her do that. Not only does it get the bugs out of the measurements, it also gives her a chance to re-write instructions that aren't as clear as they could be.

Julia > I know that no one has an answer for this problem, but I'm still > annoyed.

Reply to
Julia in MN

I look at books and patterns a bit different. You kind of expect that a book full of 20 quilts might have an error. Maybe $25 for the whole thing I have a little lower expectations. A bad $10 pattern seems to just be wrong in a more concentrated way. I know that is kind of wacky thinking. Not much logic there but just what my expectations are. Maybe there is an expectation that Joan and others doing the shop samples will pick up the problems and alert buyers? Maybe the corrections website for patterns or books could be included right on the instruction sheet with a warning? There would be an update available readily. TAria

Reply to
Taria

Reply to
Susan Laity Price

It's not just a problem in books. Recently my guild hosted a workshop that involved paper piecing a complicated circle pattern that had to be pre-purchased from the teacher. The ladies taking the class were having a hard time lining up the quarter segments. They were just told to not worry about it, stretch it, it will fit. End of discussion. Later one quilter checked the pattern and found out that it was longer in one dimension than the other and thus an ovoid rather than a circle when assembled. I didn't take the class myself so this is secondhand, but more than a few ladies at the next guild meeting were discussing the problems and frustrations they had had in final assembly. I guess it's just a sign of the times.

Diana H - PA

Reply to
PhillyQuilter

I'd like to add full quilt kits with errors to the pet peeve list. I purchased the Moda Portugal quilt kit with a photo of the finished quilt on the package. Well, a digital image of it made up, I should say. The actual instructions were in reverse color order when I came to assembling it. As a new quilter, I was totally confused. I was looking at the color photos but the assembly order didn't match it! It's sitting in a bag in the sewing room still undone. I'll get back to it someday but everytime I look at it, I remember how frustrating it was and go on to something else. I would have expected something better from Moda. Donna

Reply to
dealer83

And I have the utmost respect for the people who design quilts. I am fully aware of the problems they face and the copyright violations that take money out of their pockets. I don't make copies of patterns and we don't let people just come in a photograph quilts in the store. If you take a class, you buy the pattern/book.

But in return, I think we deserve the best product possible. And I don't know where the problem lies--the author or the publisher.

joan

Reply to
joan8904 in Bellevue Nebraska

We would be better off with less books but better ones. A lot of readers won't have the expertise to read as carefully as it takes to spot the kind of errors you get in quilting patterns. They're like errors in mathematical reasoning - you'd hope that students trying to learn mathematics from a book wouldn't be confused by incorrect definitions and proofs.

But you might hope in vain. I once got to preview a book on logic for computer science for a major academic publisher. I told them

*NO WAY* should they publish it in the form I saw, there were lots of very serious conceptual mistakes that would leave students with wrong ideas they might never manage to correct. It was also written in a pointlessly confusing style in places. My recommendation was that the authors fix these glaring booboos and actually *use* the revised version to teach from for a year or two, so their own students could argue them into clarifying their presentation before they inflicted it on an unsuspecting wider world.

They ignored my report and published the unrevised version as fast as possible. The good news is that it sank like a stone and was never reprinted.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------- e m a i l : j a c k @ c a m p i n . m e . u k Jack Campin, 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU, Scotland mobile 07800 739 557 Twitter: JackCampin

Reply to
Jack Campin - bogus address

This thread makes me wonder where our Pat on the Green is. (Maybe none of our business and that's okay.) When she was writing Geometrical Quilts (Pat Storey, Tarquin Publications) we well remember our sweet gentle Pat launching into Kill mode struggling to get her book proofs error free. She checked her writing many times. She had them tested. Still the publisher played fast and loose with her directions and measurements and she had to correct them again and again. One day I'm going to step away from quilts for Newborns in Need and attempt one of Pat's quilts. Fibonacci looks like something I might could do. Won't Pat be surprised? Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther

I agree -- and I downloaded a pattern from Clothilde ($8) the other day that had so many spelling and grammar errors in it, it was pathetic. Granted, there were no real pattern goofs there. But still, if a designer/author is going to put a product out there for people to purchase, you'd think they would go to the bother of asking a friend to proofread. I know it's silly to be bugged by spelling errors in a pattern. I just couldn't help noticing.

Sherry

Reply to
Sherry

In my case, it would have been entirely down to me, if errors remained in the book. Neither the publisher nor the page designer had any knowledge at all about the content. I did have friends read the proof pages for me, as well, and I sincerely hope no errors have remained; but they are sometimes very difficult to spot. One 'trick' I did learn was to read the text backwards (looking for actual typos or similar errors, rather than pattern errors). You can only read one word at a time and it isn't possible to get into the swing of 'mind correcting', when what you are reading makes no sense. Also, my drawings were all hand drawn; and, after they had been printed, I measured every single line of every drawing, to make sure nothing had been distorted by the printing process. . In message , joan8904 in Bellevue Nebraska writes

Reply to
Pat S

That's a coincidence, Polly dear! I came to your message just after I had written a response to Joan about where the responsibility for errors might lie. Thank you for your kind words. And, yes, you would most certainly be able to make Fibonacci (and several others I know, but that one would cause you no trouble at all). . In message , Polly Esther writes

Reply to
Pat S

Reply to
Roberta

Ah ... Thanks Roberta. I'm so glad everything worked out for you. . In message , Roberta writes

Reply to
Pat S

Thanks Sandy. I'm really glad you liked working with them. Your spiral is beautiful. The spirals are particularly rewarding, I think. And, thank you for being my pattern guinea pig! . In message , Sandy writes

Reply to
Pat S

Its called proof reading and appears uncommon in much of the of what is written these days. It is very plain that spell check programs are used almost universally these days . It is nothing to be reading along and find a word that does not fit the sentence. mistakes are definitely more common and like many errors a certain number are acceptable. and the attitude well everyone makes mistakes the universal excuse. no pride in what they do and the public has grown to accept , whine a bit but not actually take the time to complain. i wonder how many others noticed the same mistake but either passed it off, complained to a friend or two and just forgot about it. ruby

Reply to
Ruby

I came across an amazing trick in a 17th century treatise on musical instruments (maybe Athanasius Kircher's "Musurgia Universalis"). The book included scale drawings, and to make sure they came across accurately, the author included an ordinary ruler full-size in the text - he knew paper could sometimes shrink. That's attention to detail!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------- e m a i l : j a c k @ c a m p i n . m e . u k Jack Campin, 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU, Scotland mobile 07800 739 557 Twitter: JackCampin

Reply to
Jack Campin - bogus address

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