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Saturday, June 28, 2008

Sizing it up

Well, I knew what was a natural consequence of posting the envelope tutorial but, at the same time, I was a little wary as to what would be involved (ie. lots of guesswork and testing the guesses out on unsuspecting pieces of paper or Pythagoras and posting a mathematical formula on this blog). But, what for, you may ask?

I thought that it would be handy for anyone who found the tutorial useful to know how to increase the size of the envelope to accomodate bigger cards. Anyway, after I had created a little mountain of test envelopes (in other words, I gave Pythagoras a wide berth out of laziness...who would have thought that I have a background in science - certainly not me!), I went crying to Hubby and he worked it out in a snap. Thanks Hubby, you're my hero!

Anyway, rather than bore all of you with the details, I've created a table for the conversion. You are welcome to use the formula below if your card is not in the list of measurements, or you need more exact measurements to work from as I've rounded up to make the measurements easier to use. To make the bigger envelopes, you don't have to change anything other than the size of the piece of paper.

Just a few of notes to keep in mind:
1. Always round up when determining the size of the piece of the paper to make sure that your card will fit. Better that the envelope be a little too big than it being too small to fit the card. Am I right or am I right?
2. If your card is particularly bulky, make the envelope square bigger to accomodate.
3. If you are making a batch of envelopes, try one out to make sure that you are happy with the fit.
4. The depth of the notch created by the square punch affects the final size of the envelope so it pays to be precise. At the same time, if I know an envelope size has a little bit of room (from experience), I will punch such that the notch markings are cut off so that I don't have to erase them.


Card size(cms)Paper size(cms)Card size(inches)Paper size(inches)
7.51234 ¾
9.514.53 ¾5 ¾
1015.546 ¼
1218.54 ¾7 ¼
12.51957 ½
13205 ⅛7 ¾
1522.569

Good luck with your envelopes and remember to err on the side of a roomier envelope - after all, most of us know how uncomfortable it is to squeeze into clothes that are too tight!


The formula to calculate the length of the square piece of paper (S) required to house a card of a nominated length (C):

S = C x √2 + k
where:
        k = 1 (if measured in cms)
        k = ⅜ (if measured in inches)
        k is the length of the notch created by the square punch.


Update: Envelope Envies

Have a look at Sue's delicious envelopes made from Stampin' Up! double-sided patterned paper. Great idea, Sue! Everyone else, treat yourselves to an excellent read and beautiful projects while you're there.

For a berry lovely envelope, have a look at Ryemilan's pretty pink creation using Berry Bliss DSP.

6 comments:

Marcia @ Pretty Things said...

What a gem you are Lin Mei - I am going to post a link to this on my blog because you have been awesome in sharing this.

Lin Mei said...

Thanks so much, Marcia! btw I have been visiting you recently to admire your new cards but my time online has been rather patchy so I've only been lurking!

Anonymous said...

Wow - what a formula! Thanks so much (and to your hubby too - they do come in so useful don't they!) for working it out. Off to put a link on. Once I remember how to do links :-) HUUBBBYYYYYY.

Lin Mei said...

Oooh! You're so funny, Sue! I will definitely pass your thanks to hubby too :)

Thanks so muchly for the amazingly generous write-up of the link. *blush* Can't wait to see your little square creations!

Anonymous said...

Equation master, am I.
Write equations, I do... yes :-)

Lin Mei said...

Hubby has just repeated this in his best Yoda impersonation. Very good, it was!