• Keep one “master” tape that never leaves the drawer, and check your working tapes against it every few months.
• Roll the tape loosely, never fold it in a tight square. Folds make kinks; kinks make wrong readings.
• Keep it out of the sun and away from heat. Hot car dashboards and irons stretch and fade tapes.
• Use the centimetre side to double-check a tricky inch reading: 34¾ in should read about 88.3 cm.
• Cut off the first inch of a tape whose tip is damaged, and remember to add it back. Better: replace it.
• Mark eighths on a cheap tape with a fine pen if the small lines are hard to read.
• Retractable tapes: lock it or hold the case; don’t let the spring pull it tight round the body.
• Studios: replace working tapes regularly, and keep a spare at every measuring point.
• A tape with a flat stiff end is easier to hold under the arm or at the neck when measuring alone.
• For a flat garment, a steel ruler or a long quilting ruler gives straighter lines than a soft tape.

My tape and the tailor’s tape give different numbers.

1. Check both against a steel ruler, as above.
2. Check where 0 starts on each tape.
3. Prevention: tell the tailor which tape you used, or measure with theirs.

The tape keeps twisting at the back.

1. Hold it flat at the front and ask your helper to flatten it at the back.
2. Use a fibreglass tape; cloth tapes twist more.
3. Prevention: take round measurements facing a mirror, turning sideways to check.

The numbers are faded or hard to read.

1. Read the centimetre side and convert.
2. Use a phone torch held at a low angle.
3. Prevention: replace the tape; faded tapes are usually old and stretched too.

The string stretched while I measured.

1. Do it again with ribbon, shoelace or a paper strip.
2. Measure the string against the ruler straight away, before it relaxes.
3. Prevention: test the string first by pulling it along a ruler; if it grows, don’t use it.

The tape kinked and now reads short.

1. Lay it under a heavy book overnight to flatten.
2. Check it against the ruler again.
3. Prevention: store it rolled loosely, not folded.

I only have a steel tape.

1. Use the string method, and read the string against the steel tape.
2. Use the steel tape only for measuring a garment that fits, laid flat (Module 6).
3. Prevention: keep a soft tape in the house; it is one of the most useful tools you can own.

The tape shows inches but my tailor wants centimetres.

1. Multiply the inches by 2.54, and round to the nearest half centimetre.
2. Read the other side of the tape instead.
3. Prevention: ask which unit the tailor wants before you start.

• “All tapes are the same.” Old cloth tapes can stretch by half an inch or more over their length.
• “String is too rough to use.” Done carefully, it is accurate enough for most garments.
• “A steel tape is more accurate, so it’s better.” Only on flat things. On a body, it measures a straight line across the curves.
• Starting at the wrong end of the metal tip: check where the 0 is.

1. Tape test: check every tape in the house against a ruler. Keep the best one.
2. String against tape: measure your wrist and your head with string, then with tape. Compare.
3. Read in eighths: have a helper hold the tape at random points; read each to the nearest ⅛ in.

As a hobby: a good tape and a steel ruler are the start of any sewing kit.

For earning: clients trust a measurer whose tools are clean and in good order. Check tapes on a schedule and record it.

For teaching: the tape test makes a quick, memorable first exercise: learners are often surprised by their own tapes.

Most inch tapes divide each inch into eighths. The longest line in the middle is ½; the next lines are ¼ and ¾; the shortest are the eighths.

• Count from the last whole inch: 34 and three small lines is 34⅜.
• Write fractions the tailor uses: most Indian tailors are happy with halves and quarters; eighths matter for fine fitting.
• Centimetre side: each centimetre is divided into ten millimetres. 88 and 5 small lines is 88.5 cm.
• Read where the tape meets 0, not where your fingers are.
• Some tapes start at a different end on each side; check that 0 is at the same end for inches and centimetres.

• Long tapes (120 in / 300 cm): for gowns, trains and very long lehengas measured in one go.
• Tapes with a stiff end or a hook: easier to hold at the neck or under the arm when measuring alone.
• Large-print tapes: for measurers with low vision.
• Body-measuring tapes with a loop and a button: sold for waist measuring alone; check them against a ruler like any other tape.
• Curved rulers and hip curves: for pattern drafting, not for measuring bodies.
• Height rods or wall charts: for children, or use a steel tape against a wall (Module 5).

1. How do you check a tape? Lay it along a steel ruler from 0 and compare at 6 in, 12 in and further along.
2. How much stretch means the tape should go? More than about ⅛ in (3 mm) over its length, or any kink or loose tip.
3. What string works for the string method? Any non-stretch string, ribbon, shoelace or paper strip, read on a ruler.
4. How should a tape be stored? Rolled loosely, out of the sun and away from heat.

Fibreglass tapes are sold everywhere, in haberdashery shops, sewing shops and online. Many tapes abroad show centimetres on the main side; some show only centimetres. If your tailor in India wants inches, check your tape has an inch side, or convert carefully (÷ 2.54).

• Do you know where the 0 is on your tape?
• Does your tape match a ruler at 6 in and 12 in?
• Could you measure your waist with string and a ruler if you had to?
• Is your tape stored rolled, out of the sun?

• Fibreglass tape: a soft tape that doesn’t stretch; the tailor’s usual tape.
• Metal tip: the small metal end of a tape; check where 0 starts.
• String method: measuring with a non-stretch string, then reading it on a ruler.

• General tailoring practice. The tolerance of ⅛ in (3 mm) for a stretched tape is a working rule, not a standard.
• Teacher to check: how often the studio replaces its working tapes.