Centimeters vs. Inches?

For the amusemet factor, if i'm remembering correctly its only the US that really uses inches. Everywhere else uses centimeters, cause really, its just easier and infinitly more convenient. (i mean really, 12 inches to a foot, three feet to a yard, how many feet to a mile....its just SO much easier thinking of everything in tenths with centimeters, milimeters, kilometers, etc. Why we use the inch/feet system is beyond me. Metric is just so much more logical @_@;;; )

Aaaanyway, general rule of thumb for inches/centimeters is one inch is 2.5 centimeters. You can either think of it like that, or like someone mentioned earlier, use google's amazing conversion ability. (it works for pretty much everything. Measurement, dollar conversion, translations sometimes, its realy cool ^.~ )


The different sizes get confusing, especially since a "mini" or 1/4th size wig from one company might be drastically different from that of another, because each company has different proportions and different sculpting styles, so the sizes can be different. easiest thing to do is find the doll you want to find clothing/items for, find that doll's sizes (usually on the company's website) and keep those sizes in mind when shopping around for clothes, wigs, shoes, an so on. Makes life easier =]

 

I am pretty good with both.
Bring brought up in cm and worked in inches for the past five years.
For anything small I generally like to use cm more, it is more precise to me, or is what I am used to I guess. :>

 

"Exotic"? That's funny! I love it when people call American stuff "exotic". It does seem weird, doesn't it? 8 parts to an inch, 12 inches to a foot, 3 feet to a yard, and so on...

I remember learning metric in gradeschool, but, much like proper grammar, they don't really teach it in American schools. Measurements are relative, and whatever you know how to use is what's easiest for you. I never used metric until I got into doll collecting, so I still use inches to measure out my patterns. I also use it in furniture building and remodelling and such. Because it's a system I know fluently, I find it to be highly accurate. Metric, even though it's vey straight-forward, is just hard for me to relate to. I can visuallize how big 24 inches is (that's 2 feet for the rest of you), but if you say 24cm, it means nothing to me. I keep a link to Parabox's cm-inch converter on my desktop, and a measuring tape for sewing with both units on it.

And anyway, knowing the size and seeing it in person are two different things. I knew my SSDF was 70.5 cm (or 27.76 inches, about 2 1/2 feet) tall, but even so when I saw him I couldn't believe how big he is and how he towers over my 55cm Obitus boys. Even slight variations in height can make a hug difference. And some sites, like Dollmore, are notorious for listing inaccurate measurements... The post their Youth Adam as being 64cm, but he's really only 59cm.

 

Nothing personal, but Americans didn't invent the Imperial measurement system, it was invented in England, as was the metric system... its just that the rest of the world has moved on to the more logical unit of measurement, and America hasn't

Fractions of inches do my head in, and it seems like a pointless system when there are MILLIMETRES It is a far more precise unit of measurement. I'm thinking that wig sizes are still in inches because that's what porcelain doll sizes would have been traditionally measured in?

 

oh another question, does the doll brand matter with the diff sizes?

 

Count me as another American who uses the metric system! I wish we'd swapped to metric in the 70's when it had been proposed!! It's sort of like learning to think in a foreign language. When dealing with doll sized things that are only 3mm across, why would I torture myself by trying to think in fractions?

kookie, if I understand your question correctly, the sizes are fairly standard across most doll manufacturers. 1/3 dolls will be in the 60cm range, 1/4 dolls in the 40cm range, etc.

 

I do believe it is entirely what you are used to too.
I use cm exclusively for most things except height, which I can relate to both in different ways.

Sorta.
If you ask me who is taller, 175cm or 5 foot 5, I can't tell you.
But in my head I kinda have an idea what 175cm and 5 foot 5 is, I just can't convert and compare.

It is an interesting thing that doll wigs are almost always referred to with inches, I do wonder why?

 

hi! yes im looking at AoZhetian HZ 65 boy super dollfie bjd & LUTS Junior Delf TERRA - 1/3 bjd

 

kookie, if you look on the Luts site they will also show measurement that Junior Delfs are 56cm. :>
Even within the same scale there is still some height variations.

 

Oh, I know that, but since we're primarily the ones who use it that makes it ours by inheritance. I'm sure most of us will agree that metric is far more logical, but if you aren't used to using it... it's like using another language.

 

For doll stuff i really prefer cm, but in everyday life I use inches. With dolls it's just easier to think in a smaller scale. I have no idea why the US is stuck in the old fashioned scale. It's not like the average american knows how much an inch actually is, don't know how many times someone's asked me to cut off 3'' and pointed out 5'' on their hair or vice versa.

When in doubt I use my measuring tape with cm and inches on it, or google for a calculator.
cm x 0.39 = in
in x 2.54 = cm

 

Mirrin, you are creating for full size humans, believe me, when you start cutting patterns for dolls those milimetres will seem very handy all of a sudden!